English fairy tales, folklore and legends

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

ENGLISH FAIRY TALES

ENGLISH
FAIRY TALES

FOLKLORE AND
LEGENDS

ILLUSTRATED BY

GEOFFREY STRAHAN

GIBBINGS AND COMPANY, LIMITED

18 BURY ST., LONDON, W.C.

1904

TZ

INTEODUCTOKY NOTE.

THE stories have yet to be discovered which can
compete with folk-lore stories in fascination for the
young, and the reason for this it is not hard to
divine. The folk-lore tale has had its origin among
plain, artless people, in many respects only grown-
up children, and its survival to our times is simply
evidence of these people having regarded it as being
too excellent for them to allow it to be lost.

And no stories can compete with them in the
healthiness of their charm. The frolics of the
fairies and pixies who figure in them so largely
add another delight in the young intelligence to
country scenes and ancient places — a delight excel-
lently calculated to correct the effect of the feverish
excitement of many of the amusements which town
life affords.

In these volumes of English, Scottish, and Irish
folk-lore tales for the young we have endeavoured
to provide a selection of the very best stories from
among the hundreds in which each of the countries
is so rich, furnishing a healthy entertainment for
its sons and daughters through the centuries.

CONTENTS.

PACK

A Dissertation on Fairies, .... 1

Nelly the Knocker, ..... 39
The Three Fools, ..... 42
Some Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham, . 46
The Tulip Fairies, . 54

The History of Jack and the Giants, . . 57

The Fairies' Cup, ..... 84
The White Lady, . . . . . - 86

A Pleasant and Delightful History of Thomas

Hickathrift, ..... 89
The Spectre Coach, . . . . .117

The Baker's Daughter, . . . .123

The Fairy Children, . . . . .126

The History of Jack and the Beanstalk, . 129

Johnny Reed's Cat, . . . 150

Lame Molly, ... . . 156

The Brown man of the Moors, . . .159

viii CONTENTS.

PAGE

How the Cobbler cheated the Devil, . . 161
The Tavistock Witch, . . . .165
The Worm of Lambton, . . . .168
The Old Woman and the Crooked Sixpence, . 174
The Yorkshire Boggart, .... 177
The Duergar, . . .181
The Barn Elves, . . . . .185
Legends of King Arthur, . . . .187
Silky, 192

LIST OF PLATES.

Fairy Revels, ..... frontispiece
Nelly's unwearied hammer, . . . face p. 40

He sat crying into the well, . . . ,,42

Enquiring for his cheese, . . . ,,49

Here 's the valiant Cornishman, . . ,,59

One of the attendants offered him a cup, . ,, 84
These are my trusty and well-beloved subjects, ,, 105
A strange procession, ....,, 120
The old woman sat down, . . . ,, 124

Jack seized the hen, . . . ,, 140

And the lights were the flashes from their eyes, ,, 152

His foot was arrested by the voice of his com-
panion, . . . „ 160

There came among them a poor cobbler, . ,, 162

Law and Church against the devil, . . ,, 165

He made a solemn vow, . . . ,, 171

The sleeping court, . . . ,, 188

Enjoying the rustling of the storm, . . ,, 194

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES.

BY JOSEPH RITSON, ESQ.

THE earliest mention of Fairies is made by Homer,
if, that is, his English translator has, in this instance,
done him justice : —

" Where roxind the bed, whence Achelous springs,
The wat'ry Fairies dance in ma/y rings."

(Iliad, B. xxiv. 617.)

These Nymphs he supposes to frequent or reside
in woods, hills, the sea, fountains, grottos^ etc.,
whence they are peculiarly called Naiads, Dryads
and Nereids :

" What sounds are those that gather from the shores,
The voice of nymphs that haunt the sylvan bowers,
The fair-hair'd dryads of the shady wood,
Or azure daughters of the silver flood ? "

(Odyss. B. vi. 122.)

The original word, indeed, is nymphs, which, it
must be confessed, furnishes an accurate idea of the
fays (ffas or fates') of the ancient French and Italian
romances ; wherein they are represented as females
of inexpressible beauty, elegance, and every kind of

English. A

2 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES. -

personal accomplishment, united with magic or
supernatural power; such, for instance, as the
Calypso of Homer, or the Alcina of Ariosto. Agree-
ably to this idea it is that Shakespeare makes
Antony say in allusion to Cleopatra —

" To this great fairy I '11 commend thy acts,"

meaning this grand assemblage of power and beauty.
Such, also, is the character of the ancient nymphs,
spoken of by the Eoman poets, as Virgil, for instance :

" Forfcunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes,
Panaque, Sylvanumque senem, Nymphasque sorores."

(Gear. ii. 493.)

They, likewise, occur in other passages as well as
in Horace —

" gelidum nemus

Nympharumque leves cum Satyris chori."

(Carmina, I., 0. 1, v. 30.)

and, still more frequently, in Ovid.

Not far from Home, as we are told by Chorier,
was a place formerly called " Ad Nymphas," and, at
this day, " Santa Ninfa," which without doubt, he
adds, in the language of our ancestors, would have
been called " The Place of Fays " (Recherches des Anti-
qiiitez, de Vienne, Lyon, 1659).

The word fate, or fee, among the French, is
derived, according to Du Cange, from the barbarous
Latin fadus or fada, in Italian fata. Gervase of
Tilbury, in his Otia Imperialia (D. 3, c. 88), speaks

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 3

of " some of this kind of larvae, which they named
fadce, we have heard to be lovers," and in his
relation of a nocturnal contest between two knights
(c. 94) he exclaims, "What shall I say? I know
not if it were a true horsey or if it were a fairy
(fadus), as men assert." From the Roman de Par-
tenay, or de Lezignan, MS. Du Cange cites —

" Le chasteau fut fait d'une fee
Si comme il est partout retrait."

Hence, he says, faerie for spectres :

" Plusieurs parlant de Guenart,
Du Lou, de 1'Asne, et de Renarfc,
De faeries, et de songes,
De fantosmes, et de mensonges."

The same Gervase explains the Latin fata (fee,
French) a divining woman, an enchantress, or a
witch (D. 3, c. 88).

Master Wace, in his Histoire des Dues de Normendie
(confounded by many with the Roman de Rou\
describing the fountain of Berenton, in Bretagne,
says —

"En la forest et environ,
Mais jo ne sais par quel raison
La scut Ten les fees veeir,
Se li Breton nos dient veir, etc."

(In the forest and around,
I wot not by what reason found,
There may a man the fairies spy,
If Britons do not tell a lie.)

4 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

but it may be difficult to conceive an accurate idea,
from the mere name, of the popular French fays or
fairies of the twelfth century.

In Vienne, in Dauphiny, is Le puit des fees, or
Fairy- well. These fays, it must be confessed, have
a strong resemblance to the nymphs of the ancients,
who inhabited caves and fountains. Upon a
little rock which overlooks the Rhone are three
round holes which nature alone has formed, al-
though it seem, at first sight, that art has laboured
after her. They say that they were formerly
frequented by Fays ; that they were full of water
when it rained; and that they there frequently
took the pleasure of the bath; than which they
had not one more charming (Chorier, Recherches,
etc.).

Pomponius Mela, an eminent geographer, and, in
point of time, far anterior to Pliny, relates, that
beyond a mountain in ^Ethiopia, called by the
Greeks the " High Mountain," burning, he says, with
perpetual fire, is a hill spread over a long tract by
extended shores, whence they rather go to see wide
plains than to behold [the habitations] of Pans and
Satyrs. Hence, he adds, this opinion received faith,
that, whereas, in these parts is nothing of culture,
no seats of inhabitants, no footsteps — a waste soli-
tude in the day, and a mere waste silence — frequent
fires shine by night; and camps, as it were, are
seen widely spread; cymbals and tympaus sound;
and sounding pipes are heard more than human

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 5

(B. 3, c. 9). These invisible essences, however, are
both anonymous and nondescript.

The penates of the Eomans, according to honest
Reginald Scot, were "the domesticall gods, or
rather divels, that were said to make men live
quietlie within doores. But some think that Lares
are such as trouble private houses. Larvce are said
to be spirits that Avalk onelie by night. Vinculi
terrei are such as was Robin Good-fellowe, that
would supplie the office of servants, speciallie of
maides, as to make a fier in the morning, sweepe
the house, grind mustard and malt, drawe water, etc.
These also rumble in houses, drawe latches, go up
and down staiers," etc. (Discoverie, of Witchcraft,
London, 1584, p. 521). A more modern writer says
" The Latins have called the fairies lares and larvce,
frequenting, as they say, houses, delighting in neatness,
pinching the slut, and rewarding the good housewife
with money in her shoe" (Pleasaunt Treatise of Witches,
1673, p. 53). This, however, is nothing but the
character of an English fairy applied to the name of
a Roman lar or larva. It might have been wished,
too, that Scot, a man unquestionably of great learn-
ing, had referred, by name and work and book and
chapter, to those ancient authors from whom he de-
rived his information upon the Roman penates, etc.

What idea our Saxon ancestors had of the fairy
which they called celf, a word explained by Lye as
equivalent to lamia, larva, incubus, ephialtes, we are
utterly at a loss to conceive.

6 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

The nymphs, the satyrs, and the fauns, are
frequently noticed by the old traditional historians
of the north ; particularly Saxo-grammaticus, who has
a curious story of three nymphs of the forest, and
Hother, King of Sweden and Denmark, being
apparently the originals of the weird, or wizard,
sisters of Macbeth (B. 3, p. 39). Others are pre-
served by Olaus Magnus, who says they had so
deeply impressed into the earth, that the place they
have been used to, having been (apparently) eaten up
in a circular form with flagrant heat, never brings
forth fresh grass from the dry turf. This nocturnal
sport of monsters, he adds, the natives call The
Dance of the Elves (B. 3, c. 10).

" In John Milesius any man may reade
Of divels in Sarmatia honored,
Call'd Kottri, or Kibaldi ; such as wee
Pugs and Hob-goblins call. Their dwellings bee
In corners of old houses least frequented,
Or beneath stacks of wood : and these convented,
Make fearfull noise in buttries and in dairies ;
Robin Goodfellowes some, some call them fairies.
In solitarie roomes these uprores keepe,
And beat at dores to wake men from their sleepe ;
Seeming to force locks, be they ne're so strong,
And keeping Christmasse gambols all night long.
Pots, glasses, trenchers, dishes, pannes, and kettles,
They will make dance about the shelves and settles,
As if about the kitchen tost and cast,
Yet in the morning nothing found misplac't."

(Heywood's Hierarchic of Angells, 1635, fo. p. 574.)

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 7

Milton, a prodigious reader of romance, has, like-
wise, given an apt idea of the ancient fays —

" Fairer than famed of old, or fabled since
Of fairy damsels met in forest wide,
By knights of Logres, and of Liones,
Lancelot or Pelleas, or Pellenore."

These ladies, in fact, are by no means unfrequent
in those fabulous, it must be confessed, but, at the
same time, ingenious and entertaining histories ; as,
for instance, Melusine, or Merlusine, the heroine of a
very ancient romance in French verse, and who was
occasionally turned into a serpent ; Morgan-la-faee,
the reputed half-sister of King Arthur; and the
Lady of the Lake, so frequently noticed in Sir Thomas
Malory's old history of that monarch.

Le Grand is of opinion that what is called Fairy
comes to us from the Orientals, and that it is their
gfaies which have produced our fairies ; a species of
nymphs, of an order superior to those women magi-
cians, to whom they nevertheless gave the same name.
In Asia, he says, where the women imprisoned in the
harems, prove still, beyond the general servitude,
a particular slavery, the romancers have imagined
the Peris, who, flying in the air, tome to soften their
captivity, and render them happy (Fabliaux, 12mo.
i. 112). Whether this be so or not, it is certain
that we call the aurora bweales, or active clouds, in
the night, perry-dancers.

After all, Sir William Ouseley finds it impossible

8 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

to give an accurate idea of what the Persian poets
designed by a Perie, this aerial being not resembling
our fairies. The strongest resemblance he can find
is in the description of Milton in Comus. The sub-
lime idea which Milton entertained of a fairy vision
corresponds rather with that which the Persian
poets have conceived of the Peries.

" Their port was more than human as they stood ;
I took it for a faery vision
Of some gay creatures of the element,
That in the colours of the rainbow live
And play i' th' plighted clouds."

(D'Israeli's Romances, p. 13.)

It is by no means credible, however, that Milton
had any knowledge of the Oriental Peries, though
his enthusiastic or poetical imagination might have
easily peopled the air with spirits.

There are two sorts of fays, according to M. Le
Grand. The one a species of nymphs or divinities ;
the other more properly called sorceresses, or women
instructed in magic. From time immemorial, in the
abbey of Poissy, founded by St. Lewis, they said
every year a mass to preserve the nuns from the
power of the fays. When the process of the Damsel
of Orleans was made, the doctors demanded, for the
first question, " If she had any knowledge of those
who went to the Sabbath with the fays 1 or if she
had not assisted at the assemblies held at the
fountain of the fays, near Domprein, around which

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 9

dance malignant spirits ? " The Journal of Paris,
under Charles VI. and Charles vn. pretends that she
confessed that, at the age of twenty-seven years, she
frequently went, in spite of her father and mother,
to a fair fountain in the county of Lorraine, which
she named the "Good Fountain to the Fays Our
Lord " (Ib. p. 75).

Gervase of Tilbury, in his chapter " of Fauns and
Satyrs," says, — "there are likewise others, whom
the vulgar call Pallets, who inhabit the houses of the
simple rustics, and can be driven away neither by
holy water, nor exorcisms; and because they are
not seen, they afflict those, Avho are entering, with
stones, billets, and domestic furniture, whose words
for certain are heard in the human manner, and
their forms do not appear " (Otia imperialia, D. i. c.
18). He is speaking of England.

This Follet seems to resemble Puck, or Robin Good-
fellow, whose pranks were recorded in an old song and
who was sometimes useful,and sometimes mischievous.
Whether or not he was the fairy-spirit of whom Milton

" Tells how the drudging goblin swet,
To ern his cream-bowle duly set,
When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy flail hath thresh'd the corn,
That ten day-labourers could not end,
Then lies him down, the lubbar fend ;
And stretch'd out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength ;
And crop-full out of dores he flings,
Ere the first cock his matin rings." (V 'Allegro),

10 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

is a matter of some difficulty. Perhaps the giant
son of the witch, that had the devil's mark about
her (of whom " there is a pretty tale "), that was
called Lob-lye-by-the-fire, was a very different per-
sonage from Robin Good-fellow, whom, however, he
in some respects appears to resemble. A near
female relation of the compiler, who was born and
brought up in a small village in the bishopric of
Durham, related to him many years ago, several
circumstances which confirmed the exactitude of
Milton's description; she particularly told of his
threshing the corn, churning the butter, drinking
the milk, etc., and, when all was done, " lying before
the fire like a great rough hurgin bear."

In another chapter Gervase says — "As among
men, nature produces certain wonderful things, so
spirits, in airy bodies, who assume by divine per-
mission the mocks they make. For, behold ! England
has certain daemons (daemons, I call them, though
I know not, but I should say secret forms of unknown
generation), whom the French call Neptunes, the
English Fortunes. With these it is natural that they
take advantage of the simplicity of fortunate peasants;
and when, by reason of their domestic labours, they
perform their nocturnal vigils, of a sudden, the doors
being shut, they warm themselves at the fire, and
eat little frogs, cast out of their bosoms and put
upon the burning coals ; with an antiquated coun-
tenance; a wrinkled face; diminutive in stature,

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 1 1

not having [in length] half a thumb. They are
clothed with rags patched together ; and if anything
should be to be carried on in the house, or any kind
of laborious work to be done, they join themselves
to the work, and expedite it with more than human
facility. It is natural to these, that they may be
obsequious, and may not be hurtful. But one little
mode, as it were, they have of hurting. For when,
among the ambiguous shades of night, the English
occasionally ride alone, the Fortune, sometimes, un-
seen, couples himself to the rider; and, when he
has accompanied him, going on, a very long time, at
length, the bridle being seized, he leads him up to
the hand in the mud, in which while, infixed, he
wallows, the Fortune, departing, sets up a laugh ;
and so, in this kind of way, derides human sim-
plicity" (Otia imperialia, D. 3, c. 61).

This spirit seems to have some resemblance to
the Picktree-brag, a mischievous barguest that used
to haunt that part of the country, in the shape of
different animals, particularly of a little galloway;
in which shape a farmer, still or lately living there-
about, reported that it had come to him one night
as he was going home ; that he got upon it, and rode
very quietly till it came to a great pond, to which it
ran and threw him in, and went laughing away.

He further says there is, in England, a certain
species of demons, which in their language they call
Grant, like a one-year old foal, with straight legs,

1 2 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

and sparkling eyes. This kind of demon very
often appears in the streets, in the very heat of the
day, or about sunset ; and as often as it makes its
appearance, portends that there is about to be a fire
in that city or town. When, therefore, in the
following day or night the danger is urgent, in the
streets, running to and fro, it provokes the dogs to
bark, and, while it pretends flight invites them,
following, to pursue, in the vain hope of overtaking
it. This kind of illusion provokes caution to the
watchmen who have the custody of fire, and so the
officious race of demons, while they terrify the be-
holders, are wont to secure the ignorant by their
arrival (Gervase, D. 3, c. 62).

Gower, in his tale of Narcissus, professedly from
Ovid, says —

" As he cast his loke

Into the well,

He sawe the like of his visage,
And wende there were an ymage
Of such a nymphe, as tho was faye."

(Confessio amantis, fo. 20, b.)

In his Legend of Constance is this passage : —

" Thy wife which is of fairie
Of suche a childe delivered is,
Fro kinde, whiche stante all amis."

(Ibid. fo. 32, b.)

In another part of his book is a story " Howe

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 13

the Kynge of Armenis daughter inette on a tyme a
companie of the fairy." These " ladies," ride aside
"on fayre [white] ambulende horses," clad, very
magnificently, but all alike, in white and blue, and
wore " corownes on their heades ; " but they are not
called fays in the poem, nor does the word fay or
fame once occur therein.

The fairies or elves of the British isles are peculiar
to this part of the world, and are not, so far as
literary information or oral tradition enables us to
judge, to be found in any other country. For this
fact the authority of father Chaucer will be decisive,
till we acquire evidence of equal antiquity in favour
of other nations : —

" In olde dayes of the Kiug Artour,
Of which the Bretons speken gret honour,
All was this lond fulfilled of faerie ;
The elf-quene, with hire joly compagnie,
Danced ful oft in many a grene mede.
This was the old opinion as I rede ;
I speke of many hundred yeres ago ;
But now can no man see non elves mo,
For now the grete charitee and prayers
Of limitoures and other holy freres,
That serchen every land, and every streme,
As thickke as motes in the suunebeme,
Blissing halles, chambres, kichenes, and boures,
Citees and burghes, castles highe and toures,
Thropes and bernes, shepenes and dairies,
This maketh that ther ben no faeries."

(Wif of Bathes Tale.)

1 4: ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

The fairy may be defined as a species of being
partly material, partly spiritual, with a power to
change its appearance, and be, to mankind, visible
or invisible, according to its pleasure. In the old
song, printed by Peck, Robin Good-fellow, a well-
known fairy, professes that he had played his pranks
from the time of Merlin, who was the contemporary
of Arthur.

Chaucer uses the word faerie as well for the
individual as for the country or system, or what we
should now call fairy-land, or faryism. He knew
nothing, it would seem, of Oberon, Titania, or Mob,
but speaks of —

" Pluto, that is the King of Faerie,
And many a ladie in his compagnie,
Folwing his wif, the quene Proserpina, etc."

(The Marchantes Tale, i. 10101.)

From this passage of Chaucer Mr. Tyrwhitt
'•' cannot help thinking that his Pluto and Proserpina
were the true progenitors of Oberon and Titania"

In the progress of The Wif of Bathes Tale, it
happed the knight,

" in his way .... .to ride

In all his care, under a forest side,
Whereas he saw upon a dance go
Of ladies foure-and-twenty, and yet mo.
Toward this ilke dance, he drow ful yerne,
In hope that he som wisdom shnlde lerne,
But, certainly, er he came fully there,
Yvanished was this dance, he wiste not wher."

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 15

These ladies appear to have been fairies, though
nothing is insinuated of their size. Milton seems
to have been upon the prowl here for his "forest-
side."

In A Midsummer-Night's Dream, a fairy addresses
Bottom the weaver —

" Hail, mortal, hail ! "

which sufficiently shows she was not so herself.

Puck, or Robin Good-fellow, in the same play,
calls Oberon,

" King of shadows,"

and in the old song just mentioned,

"The King of ghosts and shadows,"

and this mighty monarch asserts of himself, and his
subjects,

" But we are spirits of another sort."

The fairies, as we already see, were male and female.
Their government was monarchical, and Oberon,
the King of Fairyland, must have been a sovereign
of very extensive territory. The name of his queen
was Titania. Both are mentioned by Shakespeare,
being personages of no little importance in the
above play, where they, in an ill-humour, thus
encounter :

Obe. Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania.
Tita. What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence ;
I have forsworn his bed and company."

16 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

That the name [Oberon] was not the invention of
our great dramatist is sufficiently proved. The
allegorical Spenser gives it to King Henry the
Eighth. Robert Greene was the author of a play
entitled " The Scottishe history of James the Fourthe
.... intermixed with a pleasant comedie presented
by Oberon, king of the' fairies." He is, likewise, a
character in the old French romances of Huon de
Bourdeaux, and Ogier le Danois; and there even
seems to be one upon his own exploits, Roman
d' Auberon. What authority, however, Shakespeare
had for the name Titania, it does not appear, nor is
she so called by any other writer. He himself, at
the same time, as well as many others, gives to the
queen of fairies the name of Mab, though no one,
except Drayton, mentions her as the wife of Oberon :

" 0 then, I see, queen Mab hath been with you,
She is the fairy's midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep ;
Her waggon-spokes made of long spinner's legs ;
The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers ;
The traces, of the smallest spider's web ;
The collars, of the moonshine's wat'ry beams :
Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film :
Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid :
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 17-

Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,
Time out of mind the fairies' coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love !
. . . This is that very Mab,
That plats the manes of horses in the night ;
And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes."

(Romeo and Juliet.)

Ben Jonson, in his " Entertainment of the Queen
and Prince at Althrope," in 1603, describes to come
" tripping up the lawn a bevy of fairies attending
on Mab their queen, who, falling into an artificial
ring that was there cut in the path, began to dance
around." — (Wvrks, v. 201.)

In the same masque the queen is thus characterised
by a satyr : —

" This is Mab, the mistress fairy,
That doth nightly rob the dairy,
And can hurt or help the churning,
(As she please) without discerning.
She that pinches country-wenches
If they rub not clean their benches,
And with sharper nails remembers
When they rake not up their embers ;
But, if so they chance to feast her,
In a shoe she drops a tester.
This is she that empties cradles,
Takes out children, puts in ladles ;
Trains forth midwives in their slumber,
With a sieve the holes \o number ;

English. B

18 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

And thus leads them from her boroughs,
Home through ponds and water-furrows.
She can start our franklin's daughters,
In their sleep, with shrieks and laughters,
And on sweet St. Agnes' night
Feed them with a promised sight,
Some of husbands, some of lovers,
Which an empty dream discovers."

Fairies, they tell you, have frequently been heard
and seen — nay, that there are some living who were
stolen away by them, and confined seven years.
According to the description they give who pretend
to have seen them, they are in the shape of men,
exceeding little. They are always clad in green, and
frequent the woods and fields; when they make
cakes (which is a work they have been often heard
at) they are very noisy ; and when they have done,
they are full of mirth and pastime. But generally
they dance in moonlight when mortals are asleep
and not capable of seeing them, as may be observed on
the following morn — their dancing-places being very
distinguishable. For as they dance hand in hand,
and so make a circle in their dance, so next day there
will be seen rings and circles on the grass. — (Bourne's
Antiquitates Vulgares, Newcastle, 1725, 8vo, p. 82.)

These circles are thus described by Browne, the
author of Britannia's Pastorals : —

"... A pleasant meade,
Where fairies often did their measures treade,
Which in the meadow made such circles greene,
As if with garlands it had crowned beene.

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 19

Within one of these rounds was to be seene
A hillock rise, where oft the fairie queene
At twy -light sate, and did command her elves
To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves :
And further, if by maidens' over-sight
Within doores water were not brought at night,
Or if they spred no table, set no bread,
They should have nips from toe unto the head ;
And for the maid that had perform'd each thing,
She in the water-pail bad leave a ring."

The same poet, in his " Shepeards Pipe," having
inserted Hoccleve's tale of Jonathas, and conceiving
a strange unnatural affection for that stupid fellow,
describes him as a great favourite of the fairies,
alleging, that —

" Many times he hath been seene
With the fairies on the greene,
And to them his pipe did sound,
While they danced in a round,
Mickle solace would they make him,
And at midnight often wake him,
And convey him from his roome
To a field of yellow broome j
Or into the medowes, where
Mints perfume the gentle aire,
And where Flora spends her treasure,
There they would begin their measure.
If it chanc'd night's sable shrowds
Muffled Cynthia lip in clowds,
Safely home they then would see him,
And from brakes and quagmires free him."

20 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

The fairies were exceedingly diminutive, but, it
must be confessed, we shall not readily find their
real dimensions. They were small enough, however,
if we may believe one of queen Titania's maids of
honour, to conceal themselves in acorn shells.
Speaking of a difference between the king and
queen, she says : —

" But they do square ; that all the elves for fear
Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there."

They uniformly and constantly wore green
vests, unless when they had some reason for chang-
ing their dress. Of this circumstance we meet
with many proofs. Thus in The Merry Wives of
Windsor —

" Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies green."

In fact we meet with them of all colours ; as in
the same play —

" Fairies black, grey, green, and white."

That white, on some occasions, was the dress of
a female, we learn from Keginald Scot. He gives
a charm " to go invisible by [means of] these three
sisters of fairies," Milia, Achilla, Sibylia : " I charge
you that you doo appeare before me visible, in forme
and shape of faire women, in white vestures, and to
bring with you to me the ring of invisibilitie, by the
which I may go invisible at mine owne will and
pleasure, and that in all hours and minutes."

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 21

It was fatal, if we may believe Shakespeare, to
speak to a fairy. Falstaff, in The Merry Wives of
Windsor, is made to say, " They are fairies. He
that speaks to them shall die."

They were accustomed to enrich their favourites,
as we learn from the clown in A Winter's Tale —

" It was told me I should be rich by the fairies."

They delighted in neatness, could not endure sluts,
and even hated fibsters, tell-tales, and divulgers of
secrets, whom they would slily and severely bepinch
when they little expected it. They were as generous
and benevolent, on the contrary, to young women of
a different description, procuring them the sweetest
sleep, the pleasantest dreams, and, on their departure
in the morning, always slipping a tester in their
shoe.

They are supposed by some to have been
malignant, but this, it may be, was mere calumny,
as being utterly inconsistent with their general
character, which was singularly innocent and
amiable.

Imogen, in Shakespeare's Cymbeline, prays, on
going to sleep —

" From fairies, and the tempters of the night,
Guard me, beseech yon."

It must have been the Incubus she was so afraid
o£

22 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

Hamlet, too, notices this imputed malignity of
the fairies : —

"... Then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm."

Thus, also, in The Comedy of Errors : —

" A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough."
They were amazingly expeditious in their journeys.
Puck, or Robin Good-fellow, answers Oberon, who
was about to send him on a secret expedition —
" I '11 put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes."

Again the same goblin addresses him thus : —
" Fairy king, attend and mark,
I do hear the morning lark.

Obe. Then, my queen, in silence sad,
Trip we after the night's shade —
We the globe can compass soon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon."

In another place Puck says —

" My fairy lord this must be done in haste ;
For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger,
At whose approach ghosts, wandering here and there,
Troop home to churchyards," etc.

To which Oberon replies —

" But we are spirits of another sort :
I with the morning's love have oft made sport ;
And, like a forester, the groves may tread,
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
Turns into yellow gold his salt- green streams."

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 23

Compare, likewise, what Eobin himself says on this
subject in the old song of his exploits.
They never ate —

" But that it eats our victuals, I should think,
Here were a fairy,"

says Belarius at the first sight of Imogen, as
Fidele.

They were humanely attentive to the youthful
dead. Thus Guiderius at the funeral of the above
lady —

" With female fairies will his tomb be haunted."

Or, as in the pathetic dirge of Collins on the same
occasion : —

"No witherM witch shall here be seen,
No goblins lead their nightly crew ;
The female fays shall haunt the green,
And dress the grave with pearly dew."

This amiable quality is, likewise, thus beautifully
alluded to by the same poet : —

" By fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung."

Their employment is thus charmingly represented
by Shakespeare, in the address of Prospero : —

" Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves ;
And ye, that on the sands, with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
When he comes back ; you demi-puppets, that

24 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

By moon-shine do the green-sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites ; and you, whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms ; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew."

In The Midsummer Night's Dream, the queen,
Titania, being desirous to take a nap, says to her
female attendants —

" Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song ;
Then, for the third part of a minute hence ;
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rosebuds ;
Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats ; and some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots, and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep ;
Then to your offices, and let me rest."

Milton gives a most beautiful and accurate de-
scription of the little green-coats of his native soil,
than which nothing can be more happily or justly
expressed. He had certainly seen them, in this
situation, with " the poet's eye " : —

"... Fairie elves,

Whose midnight revels, by a forest side
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon,
Sits arbitress, and neerer to the earth
Wheels her pale course, they, on thir mirth and dance
Intent, with jocond music charm his ear ;
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds."

The impression they made upon his imagination

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 25

in early life appears from his " Vacation Exercise,"
at the age of nineteen : —

" Good luck befriend thee, son ; for, at thy birth
The faiery ladies daunc't upon the hearth ;
The drowsie nurse hath sworn she did them spie
Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie,
And, sweetly singing round about thy bed,
Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head."

L'Abbe" Bourdelou, in his Ridiculous Extravagances
of M. Oufle", describes " The fairies of which," he
says, " grandmothers and nurses tell so many tales
to children. These fairies," adds he, " I mean, who
are affirmed to be blind at home, and very clear-
sighted abroad ; who dance in the moonshine when
they have nothing else to do ; who steal shepherds
and children, to carry them up to their caves," etc.
— (English translation, p. 190.)

The fairies have already called themselves spirits,
ghosts, or sliadows, and consequently they never
died, a position, at the same time, of which there is
every kind of proof that a fact can require. The
reviser of Johnson and Steevens's edition of Shake-
speare, in 1785, makes a ridiculous reference to the
allegories of Spenser, and a palpably false one to
Tickell's Kensington Gardens, which he affirms " will
show that the opinion of fairies dying prevailed in
the last century," whereas, in fact, it is found, on
the slightest glance into the poem, to maintain the
direct reverse : —

26 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

" Meanwhile sad Kenna, loath to quit the grove,
Hung o'er the body of her breathless love,
Try'd every art (vain arts !) to change his doom,
And vow'd (vain vows !) to join him in the tomb.
What would she do ? The Fates alike deny
The dead to live, or fairy forms to die."

The fact is so positively proved, that no editor
or commentator of Shakespeare, present or future,
will ever have the folly or impudence to assert " that
in Shakespeare's time the notion of fairies dying was
generally known."

Ariosto informs us (in Harington's translation,
Bk. x. s. 47) that

"... (Either auncient folke believ'd a lie,
Or this is true) a fayrie cannot die."

And again (Bk. xliii. s. 92),

" I am a fayrie, and, to make you know,
To be a fayrie what it doth import :

We cannot dye, how old so ear we grow.
Of paines and harmes of ev'rie other sort

We tast, onelie no death we nature ow."

Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Faithful Shepherdess,

describe —

" A virtuous well, about whose flow'ry banks
The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds,
By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes
Their stolen children, so to make 'em free
From dying flesh, and dull mortality.'1

Puck, alias Kobin Good-fellow, is the most active
and extraordinary fellow of a fairy that we any-

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 27

where meet with, and it is believed we find him
nowhere but in our own country, and, peradventure
also, only in the South. Spenser, it would seem, is
the first that alludes to his name of Puck : —

" Ne let the Pouke, nor other evill spright,
Ne let Hob-goblins, names whose sense we see not,
Fray us with things that be not."

"In our childhood," says Eeginald Scot, "our
mothers' maids have so terrified us with an oughe
divell having homes on his head, fier in his mouth,
and a taile, eies like a bason, fanges like a dog,
clawes like a beare, a skin like a niger, and a voice
roaring like a lion, whereby we start and are afraid
when we heare one crie Bough ! and they have so
fraied us with bull-beggers, spirits, witches, urchens,
elves, hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, sylens, Kit with the
cansticke, tritons, centaurs, dwarfes, giants, imps,
calcars, conjurors, nymphes, changling, Incubus,
Robin Goodfellow, the spoorne, the mare, the man
in the oke, the hell wain, the fier drake, the puckle,
Tom Thombe, Hob gobblin, Tom Tumbler, boneles,
and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our
owne shadowes." — (Discoverie of Witchcraft, London,
1584, 4to, p. 153.) "And know you this by the
waie," he says, " that heretofore Robin Goodfellow
and Hob goblin were as terrible, and also as credible,
to the people as hags and witches be now. . . .
And in truth, they that mainteine walking spirits

28 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

have no reason to denie Eobin Good fellow, upon
whom there hath gone as manie and as credible
tales as upon witches, saving that it hath not pleased
the translators of the Bible to call spirits by the name
of Eobin Goodfellow."— (P. 131.)

" Your grandams' maides," says he, " were woont to
set a boll of milke before Incubus and his cousine
Eobin Goodfellow for grinding of malt or mustard,
and sweeping the house at midnight ; and you have
also heard that he would chafe exceedingly if the
maid or good-wife of the house, having compassion
of his naked state, laid anie clothes for him, besides
his messe of white bread and milke, which was his
standing fee. For in that case he saith, What have
we here ?

"Hemton, hamton,
Here will I never more tread nor stampen."

(Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 85.)

Eobin is thus characterised in The Midsummer
Night's Dream by a female fairy : —

" Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call'd Robin Goodfellow : are you not he
That fright the maidens of the villagery ;
Skim milk ; and sometimes labour in the quern,
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn ;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm ;
Mislead night- wanderers, laughing at their harm ?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck."

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 29

To these questions Robin thus replies : —

" Thou speak'st aright ;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal :
And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab ;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me ;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And 'tailor,' cries, and falls into a cough ;
And then the whole quire hold their hips, and laugh ;
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear,
A merrier hour was never wasted there."

His usual exclamation in this play is Ho, ho, ho !
" Ho, ho, ho ! Coward, why com'st thou not ? "

So in Grim, the Collier of Croydon : —

" Ho, ho, ho ! my masters ! No good fellowship !
Is Robin Goodfellow a bugbear grown,
That he is not worthy to be bid sit down ? "

In the song printed by Peck, he concludes every
stanza with Ho, ho, ho !

" If that the bowle of curds and creame were not
duly set out for Eobin Goodfellow, the frier, and
Sisse the dairymaid, why, then, either the pottage
was so burnt to next day in the pot, or the cheeses
would not curdle, or the butter would not come, or

30 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

the ale in the fat never would have good head.
But if a Peter-penny, or an housle-egge were behind,
or a patch of tythe unpaid, then 'ware of bull-
beggars, spirits," etc.

This frolicsome spirit thus describes himself in
Jonson's masque of Love Restored : " Robin Good-
fellow, he that sweeps the hearth and the house
clean, riddles for the country maids, and does all
their other drudgery, while they are at hot-cockles ;
one that has conversed with your court spirits ere
now." Having recounted several ineffectual attempts
he had made to gain admittance, he adds : " In this
despair, Avhen all invention and translation too
failed me, I e'en went back and stuck to this shape
you see me in of mine own, with my broom and my
canles, and came on confidently." The mention of
his broom reminds us of a passage in another play,
Midsummer Night's Dream, where he tells the
audience —

" I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door."

He is likewise one of the dramatis personce in the
old play of Wily Beguiled, in which he says —

" Tush ! fear not the dodge. I '11 rather put on
my flashing red nose, and my flaming face, and come
wrap'd in a calf-skin, and cry Bo, bo \ I '11 pay the
scholar, I warrant thee." — (Harsnet's Declaration,
London, 1604, 4to.) His character, however, in

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 31

this piece, is so diabolical, and so different from
anything one could expect in Robin Good-fellow,
that it is unworthy of further quotation.

He appears, likewise, in another, entitled Grim,
the Cottier of Croydon, in which he enters " in a suit
of leather close to his body; his face and hands
coloured russet colour, with a flail."

He is here, too, in most respects, the same strange
and diabolical personage that he is represented in
Wily Beguiled, only there is a single passage which
reminds us of his old habits : —

" When as I list in this transform'd disguise
I '11 fright the country people as I pass ;
And sometimes turn me to some other form,
And so delude them with fantastic shows,
But woe betide the silly dairymaids,
For I shall fleet their cream-bowls night by night."

In another scene he enters while some of the
other characters are at a bowl of cream, upon which
he says —

" I love a mess of cream as well as they ;
I think it were best I stept in and made one :
Ho, ho, ho ! my masters ! No good fellowship !
Is Robin Goodfellow a bugbear grown
That he is not worthy to be bid sit down ? "

There is, indeed, something characteristic in this
passage, but all the rest is totally foreign.

Doctor Percy, Bishop of Dromore, has reprinted
in his Eeligues of Ancient English Poetry a very curious

32 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

and excellent old ballad originally published by Peck,
who attributes it, but with no similitude, to Ben
Jonson, in which Robin Good-fellow relates his
exploits with singular humour. To one of these
copies, he says, " were prefixed two wooden cuts,
which seem to represent the dresses in which this
whimsical character was formerly exhibited upon
the stage." In this conjecture, however, the learned
and ingenious editor was most egregiously mistaken,
these cuts being manifestly printed from the identical
blocks made use of by Bulwer in his " Artificial
Changeling," printed in 1 6 1 5, the first being intended
for one of the black and white gallants of Seale-bay
adorned with the moon, stars, etc., the other a
hairy savage.

Burton, speaking of fairies, says that " a bigger kind
there is of them, called with Hobgoblins, and Eobin
Goodfellowes, that would in those superstitious
times, grinde corne for a messe of milke, cut wood,
or do any kind of drudgery worke." Afterward, of
the daemons that mislead men in the night, he says,
"We commonly call them Pucks." — (Anatomy of
Melancholie.)

Cartwright, in The Ordinary, introduces Moth,
repeating this curious charm : —

" Saint Frances and Saint Benedight
Blesse this house from wicked wight,
From the nightmare, and the goblin
That is hight Goodfellow Robin ;

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 33

Keep it from all evil spirits,
Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets ;

From curfew time

To the next prime."

(Act in. Sc. 1.)

This Puck, or Robin Good-fellow, seems, likewise,
to be the illusory candle-holder, so fatal to travellers.
and who is more usually called Jack-a-lantern, or
Will-with-a-wisp; and, as it would seem from a
passage elsewhere cited from Scot, Kit with the
canstick. Thus a fairy, in a passage of Shakespeare
already quoted, asks Robin —

"... Are you not he
That frights the maidens of the villagery,
Misleads night- wanderers laughing at their harm ? "

Milton alludes to this deceptive gleam in the
following lines —

" . . . A wandering fire,

Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night
Condenses, and the cold environs round,
Kindled through agitation to a flame,
Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,
Hovering and blazing with delusive light,
Misleads th' amazed night-wanderer from his way
To bogs and mires, and oft through pond and pool."

(Paradise Lost, Bk, 9).

He elsewhere calls him " the frier's lantern." —
(L'Allegro).

This facetious spirit only misleads the benighted
traveller (generally an honest farmer, in his way

English.

0

34 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

from the market, in a state of intoxication) for the
joke's sake, as one very seldom, if ever, hears any
of his deluded followers (who take it to be the
torch of Hero in some hospitable mansion, affording
" provision for man and horse ") perishing in these
ponds or pools, through which they dance or plunge
after him so merrily.

" There go as manie tales," says Reginald Scot,
" upon Hudgin, in some parts of Germanic, as there
did in England of Robin Good-fellow. . . . Frier
Rush was for all the world such another fellow as this
Hudgin, and brought up even in the same schoole —
to wit, in a kitchen, inasmuch as the selfe-same tale is
written of the one as of the other, concerning the
skullian, who is said to have beene slaine, etc., for the
reading Avhereof I referre you to frier Rush his storie,
or else to John Wierus, De Prcestigiis Dcemonum."

In the old play of Gammer Gurton's Needle, printed
in 1575, Hodge, describing a "great black devil"
which had been raised by Diccon, the bedlam, and
being asked by Gammer —

" Butj Hodge, had he no horns to push ? "

replies —

"As long as your two arms. Saw ye never Fryer Rushe,
Painted on a cloth, with a side-long cowe's tayle,
And crooked cloven feet, and many a hoked nayle ?
For al the world (if I schuld judg) chould reckon him his

brother ;

Loke even what face frier Rush had, the devil had such
another."

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 35

The fairies frequented many parts of the bishopric
of Durham. There is a hillock, or tumulus, near
Bishopton, and a large hill near Billingham, both
which used, in former time, to be " haunted by
fairies." Even Ferry-hill, a well-known stage
between Darlington and Durham, is evidently a
corruption of Fairy-hill. When seen, by accident or
favour, they are described as of the smallest size,
and uniformly habited in green. They could, how-
ever, occasionally assume a different size and appear-
ance; as a woman, who had been admitted into their
society, challenged one of the guests, whom she
espied in the market, selling fairy-butter. This
freedom was deeply resented, and cost her the eye
she first saw him with. Mr. Brand mentions his
having met with a man, who said he had seen one
who had seen the fairies. Truth, he adds, is to
be come at in most cases. None, he believes, ever
came nearer to it in this than he has done. How-
ever that may be, the present editor cannot pretend
to have been more fortunate. His informant related
that an acquaintance in Westmoreland, having a
great desire, and praying earnestly, to see a fairy,
was told by a friend, if not a fairy in disguise,
that on the side of such a hill, at such a time of
day, he should have a sight of one, and accordingly,
at the time and place appointed, " the hobgoblin,"
in his own words, " stood before him in the likeness
of a green-coat lad," but in the same instant, the

36 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

spectator's eye glancing, vanished into the hill.
This, he said, the man told him.

"The streets of Newcastle," says Mr. Brand,
" were formerly (so vulgar tradition has it) haunted
by a nightly guest, which appeared in the shape of
a mastiff dog, etc., and terrified such as were afraid
of shadows. I have heard," he adds, " when a boy,
many stories concerning it."

The no less famous barguest of Durham, and the
Picktree-irag', have been already alluded to. The
former, beside its many other pranks, would some-
times, at the dead of night, in passing through the
different streets, set up the most horrid and con-
tinuous shrieks to scare the poor girls who might
happen to be out of bed. The compiler of the
present sheets remembers, when very young, to
have heard a respectable old woman, then a mid-
wife at Stockton, relate that when, in her youth-
ful days, she was a servant at Durham, being up late
one Saturday night cleaning the irons in the kitchen,
she heard these skrikes, first at a great and then
at a less distance, till at length the loudest and
most horrible that can be conceived, just at the
kitchen window, sent her upstairs, she did not
know how, where she fell into the arms of a fellow-
servant, who could scarcely prevent her fainting
away.

"Pioneers or diggers for metal," according to
Lavater, " do affirme that in many mines there

A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 37

appeare straunge shapes and spirites, who are
apparelled like unto other laborers in the pit.
These wander up and down in caves and under-
minings, and seeme to bestuire themselves in all kinde
of labour, as to digge after the veine, to carrie to-
gither oare, to put it in baskets, and to turne the
wiiiding-whele to draw it up, when, in very deede,
they do nothing lesse. They very seldome hurte
the labourers (as they say) except they provoke them
by laughing and rayling at them, for then they
threw gravel stones at them, or hurt them by some
other means. These are especially haunting in
pittes where mettall moste aboundeth." — (Of ghostes,
etc., London, 1572, 4to, p. 73.)
This is our great Milton's

"Swart faery of the mine."

" Simple foolish men imagine, I know not howe,
that there be certayne elves or fairies of the earth,
and tell many straunge and marvellous tales of
them, which they have heard of their grandmothers
and mothers, howe they have appeared unto those
of the house, have done service, have rocked the
cradell, and (which is a sigue of good luck) do con-
tinually tarry in the house." — (Of ghostes, etc., p. 49.)

Mallet, though without citing any authority,
says, "after all, the notion is not everywhere ex-
ploded that there are in the bowels of the earth,
fairies, or a kind of dwarfish and tiny beings of

38 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

human shape, and remarkable for their riches, their
activity, and malevolence. In many countries of
the north, the people are still firmly persuaded of
their existence. In Ireland, at this day, the good
folk show the very rocks and hills in which they
maintain that there are swarms of these small sub-
terraneous men, of the most tiny size, but the most
delicate figures." — (Northern Antiquities, etc., ii. 47.)

There is not a more generally received opinion
throughout the principality of Wales than that of
the existence of fairies. Amongst the commonalty it
is, indeed, universal, and by no means unfrequently
credited by the second ranks.

Fairies are said, at a distant period, "to have
frequented Bussers-hill in St. Mary's island, but
their nightly pranks, aerial gambols, and cockle-
shell abodes, are now quite unknown." — (Heath's
Account of the Islands of Stilly, p. 1 2 9.)

" Evil spirits, called fairies, are frequently seen in
several of the isles [of Orkney], dancing and making
merry, and sometimes seen in armour." — (Brand's
Description of Orkney, Edin., 1703, p. 61.)

A FARM-STEADING situated near the borders of
Northumberland, a few miles from Haltwhistle, was

once occupied by a family of the name of W

K n. In front of the dwelling-house, and at

about sixty yards' distance, lay a stone of vast size,
as ancient, for so tradition amplifies the date, as
the flood. On this stone, at the dead hour of the
night, might be discerned a female figure, wrapped
in a grey cloak, with one of those low-crowned
black bonnets, so familiar to our grandmothers,
upon her head. She was incessantly knock, knock,
knocking, in a fruitless endeavour to split the im-
penetrable rock. Duly as night came round, she
occupied her lonely station, in the same low crouch-
ing attitude, and pursued the dreary obligations of
her destiny, till the grey streaks of the dawn gave
admonition to depart. From this, the only per-
ceptible action in which she engaged, she obtained
the name of Nelly, the Knocker. So perfectly had
the inmates of the farmhouse in the lapse of time,
which will reconcile sights and events the most
disagreeable and alarming, become accustomed to

40 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

Nelly's undeviating nightly din, that the work went
forward unimpeded and undisturbed by any appre-
hension accruing from her shadowy presence. Did
the servant-man make his punctual resort to the
neighbouring cottages, he took the liberty of scrutin-
ising Nelly's antiquated garb that varied not with
the vicissitudes of seasons, or he pried sympatheti-
cally into the progress of her monotonous occupation,
and though her pale, ghastly, contracted features
gave a momentary pang of terror, it was rapidly
effaced in the vortex of good fellowship into which
he was speedily drawn. Did the loon venture an
appointment with his mistress at the rustic style of
the stack-garth, Nelly's unwearied hammer, instead
of proving a barrier, only served, by imparting a
grateful sense of mutual danger, to render more
intense the raptures of the hour of meeting. So
apathetic were the feelings cherished towards her,
and so little jealousy existed of her power to injure,
that the relater of these circumstances states that
on several occasions she has passed Nelly at her
laborious toil, without evincing the slightest per-
turbation, beyond a hurried step, as she stole a
glance at the inexplicable and mysterious form.

An event, in the course of years, disclosed the
secrets that marvellous stone shrouded, and drove
poor Nelly for ever from the scene so inscrutably
linked with her fate.

Two of the sons of the farmer were rapidly ap-
proaching maturity, when one of them, more reflecting

NELLY'S UNWEARIED HAMMER.

NELLY, THE KNOCKER. 41

and shrewd than his compeers, suggested the idea of
relieving Nelly from her toilsome avocation, and
of taking possession of the alluring legacy to which
she was evidently and urgently summoning. He
proposed, conjointly with his father and brother, to
blast the stone, as the most expeditious mode of
gaining access to her arcana, and, this in the open
daylight, in order that any tutelary protection she
might be disposed to extend to her favourite haunt
might, as she was a thing of darkness and the night,
be effectually countervailed. Nor were their hopes
frustrated, for, upon clearing away the earth and
fragments that resulted from the explosion, there
was revealed to their elated and admiring gaze, a
precious booty of closely packed urns copiously en-
riched with gold. Anxious that no intimation of
their good fortune should transpire, they had taken
the precaution to despatch the female servant on a
needless errand, and ere her return the whole trea-
sure was efficiently and completely secured. So
completely did they succeed in keeping their own
counsel, and so successfully did their reputation
keep pace with 'the cautious production of their
undivulged treasures, that for many years afterwards
they were never suspected of gaining any advantage
from poor Nelly's " knocking " ; their improved ap-
pearance, and the somewhat imposing figure they
made in their little district, being solely attributed
to their superior judgment, and to the good manage-
ment of their lucky farm.

THE THREE FOOLS.

THERE was once a good-looking girl, the daughter
of well-off country folk, who was loved by an honest
young fellow named John. He courted her for a
long time, and at last got her and her parents to
consent to his marrying her, which was to come off
in a few weeks' time.

One day as the girl's father was working in his
garden he sat down to rest himself by the well, and,
looking in, and seeing how deep it was, he fell a-
thinking.

" If Jane had a child," said he to himself, " who
knows but that one day it might play about here
and fall in and be killed ? "

The thought of such a thing filled him with
sorrow, and he sat crying into the well for some
time until his Avife came to him.

" What is the matter ? " asked she. " What are
you crying for 1 "

Then the man told her his thoughts —

" If Jane marries and has a child," said he, " who
knows but it might play about here and some day
fall into the well and be killed 1 "

HE SAT CRYING INTO THE WELL.

THE THREE FOOLS. 43

" Alack ! " cried the woman, " I never thought
of that before. It is, indeed, possible."

So she sat down and wept with her husband.

As neither of them came to the house the daughter
shortly came to look for them, and when she found
them sitting crying into the well —

"What is the matter?" asked she. "Why do
you weep "? "

So her father told her of the thought that had
struck him.

" Yes," said she, "it might happen."

So she too sat down with her father and mother,
and wept into the well.

They had sat there a good while when John
comes to them.

" What has made you so sad 1 " asked he.

So the lather told him what had occurred, and said
that he should be afraid to let him have his daughter
seeing her child might fall into the well.

" You are three fools," said the young man, when
he had heard him to an end, and leaving them, he
thought over whether he should try to get Jane for
his wife or not. At length he decided that he
would marry her if he could find three people more
foolish than her and her father and mother. He
put on his boots and went out.

" I will walk till I wear these boots out," said he,
>( and if I find three more foolish people before I am
barefoot, I will marry her."

44 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

So he went on, and walked very far till he came
to a barn, at the door of which stood a man with a
shovel in his hands. He seemed to be working very
hard, shovelling the air in at the door.

" What are you doing 1 " asked John.

"I am shovelling in the sunbeams," replied the
man, " to ripen the corn."

"Why don't you have the corn out in the sun for
it to ripen it ? " asked John.

"Good," said the man. " Why, I never thought
of that ! Good luck to you, for you have saved me
many a weary day's work."

"That 's fool number one," said John, and went on.

He travelled a long way, until one day he came
to a cottage, against the wall of it was placed a
ladder, and a man was trying to pull a cow up it
by means of a rope, one end of which was round
the cow's neck.

" What are you about 1 " asked John.

" Why," replied the man, " I want the cow up on
the roof to eat off that fine tuft of grass you see
growing there."

" Why don't you cut the grass and give it to the
cow 1 " asked John.

" Why, now, I never thought of that ! " answered
the man. " So I will, of course, and many thanks,
for many a good cow have I killed in trying to get
it up there."

" That 's fool number two," said John to himself.

THE THREE FOOLS. 45

He walked on a long way, thinking there were
more fools in the world than he had thought, and
wondering what would be the next one he should
meet. He had to wait a long time, however, and
to walk very far, and his boots were almost worn
out before he found another.

One day, however, he came to a field, in the
middle of which he saw a pair of trousers standing
up, being held up by sticks. A man was running
about them and jumping over and over them.

" Hullo ! " cried John. " What are you about ? "

"Why," said the man, "what need is there to
ask ? Don't you see I want to get the trousers on 1 "
so saying he took two or three more runs and
jumps, but always jumped either to this side or
that of the trousers.

" Why don't you take the trousers and draw them
on 1 " asked John.

" Good," said the man. " Why, I never thought
of it ! Many thanks. I only wish you had come
before, for I have lost a great deal of time in trying
to jump into them."

" That," said John, " is fool number three."

So, as his boots were not yet quite worn out, he
returned to his home and went again to ask Jane
of her father and mother. At last they gave her
to him, and they lived very happily together, for
John had a rail put round the well and the child
did not fall into it.

English. D

SOME MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN
OF GOTHAM.

From a chap-book printed at Hull in the beginning of the
present century.]

TALE FIRST.

THERE were two men of Gotham, and one of them
was going to the market at Nottingham to buy
sheep, and the other was coming from the market,
and both met together on Nottingham bridge.

" Well met," said the one to the other.

"Whither are you a-going?" said he that came
from Nottingham.

" Marry," said he that was going thither, " I am
going to the market to buy sheep."

"Buy sheep," said the other; "and which way
will you bring them home 1 "

" Marry," said the other, " I will bring them over
this bridge."

"By Robin Hood," said he that came from Not-
tingham, " but thou shalt not."

"By maid Marjoram," said he that was going
thither, " but I will."

46

MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 47

" Thou shalt not," said the one.

" I will," said the other.

" Tut here," said the one, and " Tut there," said
the other. . Then they beat their staves against the
ground one against the other, as if there had been
a hundred sheep betwixt them.

" Hold them there," said one.

"Beware of the leaping over the bridge of my
sheep," said the other.

" I care not."

" They shall all come this way," said the one.

" But they shall not," said the other.

As they were in contention, another wise man
that belonged to Gotham came from the market
with a sack of meal upon his horse, and seeing and
hearing his neighbours at strife about sheep, and
none betwixt them, said he —

" Ah, fools ! will you never learn wit ? Then
help me," said he that had the meal, " and lay this
sack upon my shoulder."

They did so, and he went to one side of the
bridge, and unloosed the mouth of the sack, and
shook out the meal into the river. Then said he —

"How much meal is there in the sack, neigh-
bours?"

" Marry," answered they, " none."

"Now, by my faith," replied this wise man,
" even so much wit is there in your two heads, to
strive concerning that thing which you have not."

48 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

Now, which was the wisest of all these three
persons I leave you to judge.

TALE SECOND.

ON a time the men of Gotham fain would have
pinned in the cuckoo, whereby she should sing all
the year ; and in the midst of the town they had a
hedge made round in compass, and they got the
cuckoo, and put her into it, and said —

" Sing here, and you shall lack neither meat nor
drink all the year."

The cuckoo, when she perceived herself encom-
passed within the hedge, flew away.

" A vengeance on her," said the wise men, " we
made not our hedge high enough."

TALE THIRD.

THERE was a man of Gotham who went to the
market of Nottingham to sell cheese, and, as he was
going down the hill to Nottingham bridge, one of
his cheese fell out of his wallet, and ran down the
hill.

" What ! " said the fellow, " can you run to the
market alone? I will now send one after the
other."

Then laying down the wallet, and taking out the
cheese, he tumbled them down the hill, one after
the other, and some ran into one bush and some into
another, so at last he said —

MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 49

"I do charge you to meet me in the market-
place."

And when the man came into the market to meet
the cheese, he stayed until the market was almost
done, then went and inquired of his neighbours and
other men if they did see his cheese come to
market.

"Why, who should bring them 1" said one of his
neighbours.

" Marry, themselves ! " said the fellow. " They
knew the way well enough," said he. "A ven-
geance on them, for I was afraid, to see my cheese
run so fast, that they would run beyond the market.
I am persuaded that they are by this time almost at
York."

So he immediately takes a horse, and rides after
them to York, but was very much disappointed.

But to this day no man has ever heard of the
cheese.

TALE FOURTH.

WHEN that Good Friday was come the men of
Gotham did cast their heads together what to do
with their white herrings, red herrings, their sprats,
and salt fish. Then one counselled with the other,
and agreed that all such fish should be cast into the
pond or pool, Avhich was in the middle of the town,
that the number of them might increase against the
next year. Therefore every one that had got any

50 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

fish left did cast them into the pond. Then one
said —

" I have as yet gotten left so many red herrings."

" Well," said the other, " and I have left so many
whitings."

Another immediately cried out —

" I have as yet gotten so many sprats left."

" And," said the last, " I have got so many salt
fishes. Let them all go together into the great
pond without any distinction, and we may be sure
to fare like lords the next year."

At the beginning of the next Lent they imme-
diately went about drawing the pond, imagining
they should have the fish, but were much surprised
to find nothing but a great eel.

" Ah !" said they, " a mischief on this eel, for he
hath eaten up our fish."

"What must we do with him1}" said one to the
other.

"Kill him !" said one to the other.

" Chop him into pieces," said another.

" Nay, not so," said the other, " but let us drown
him."

" Be it accordingly so," replied they all.

So they immediately went to another pond, and
did cast the eel into the water.

" Lie there," said these wise men, " and shift for
thyself, since you can expect no help from us."

So they left the eel to be drowned.

MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 51

TALE Firm.

ON a certain time there were twelve men of
Gotham that went a-fishing ; and some did wade
in the water, and some did stand upon dry land.
And when they went homeward, one said to the
other —

" We have ventured wonderful hard this day in
wading, I pray God that none of us may have come
from home to be drowned."

" Nay, marry," said one to the other, " let us see
that, for there did twelve of us come out."

Then they told themselves, and every man told
eleven, and the twelfth man did never tell himself.

" Alas !" said the one to the other, " there is some
one of us drowned."

They went back to the brook where they had
been fishing, and did make a great lamentation. A
courtier did come riding by, and did ask what it
was they sought for, and why they were so sor-
rowful.

" Oh !" said they, " this day AVC went to fish in
the brook, and here did come out twelve of us, and
one of us is drowned."

" Why," said the courtier, " tell how many there
be of you," and the one said eleven, and he did not
tell himself.

" Well," said the courtier, " what will you give
me, and I will find out twelve men V

52 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

" Sir," said they, " all the money we have got."

" Give me the money," said the courtier ; and be-
gan with the first, and gave a rscommendibus over
the shoulders, which made him groan, saying, " Here
is one;" and so he served them all, that they
groaned at the matter. When he came to the last,
he paid him well, saying —

" Here is the twelfth man."

" God's blessing on thy heart for finding out our
dear brother."

TALE SIXTH.

A MAN'S wife of Gotham had a child, and the
father bid the gossips, which were children of eight
or ten years of age. The eldest child's name,
who was to be godfather, was called Gilbert, the
second child's name was Humphrey, and the god-
mother's name was Christabel. The friends of all
of them did admonish them, saying, that divers of
times they must say after the priest. When they
were all come to the church -door, the priest
said —

" Be you all agreed of the name ? "

" Be you all," said Gilbert, " agreed of the
name ? "

The priest then said —

" Wherefore do you come hither 1 "

Gilbert said, " Wherefore do you come hither 1 "
Humphrey said, " Wherefore do you come hither ? "

MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 53

And Christabel said, '; Wherefore do you come
hither ? "

The priest being amazed, he could not tell what
to say, but whistled and said " Whew ! "

Gilbert whistled and said " Whew ! " Humphrey
whistled and said " Whew ! " and so did Christabel.
The priest being angry, said —

" Go home, fools, go home ! "

Then said Gilbert and Humphrey and Christabel
the same.

The priest then himself provided for god- fathers
and god-mothers.

Here a man may see that children can do nothing
without good instruction, and that they are not wise
who regard them.

THE TULIP FAIRIES.

NEAR a pixy field in the neighbourhood of Dart-
moor, there lived, on a time, an old woman who
possessed a cottage and a very pretty garden, wherein
she cultivated a most beautiful bed of tulips. The
pixies, it is traditionally averred, so delighted in
this spot that they would carry their elfin babes
thither, and sing them to rest. Often, at the dead
hour of the night, a sweet lullaby was heard, and
strains of the most melodious music would float in
the air, that seemed to owe their origin to no other
nfusicians than the beautiful tulips themselves, and
whilst these delicate flowers waved their heads to
the evening breeze, it sometimes seemed as if they
were marking time to their own singing. As soon
as the elfin babes were lulled asleep by such melodies,
the pixies would return to the neighbouring field,
and there commence dancing, making those rings on
the green which showed, even to mortal eyes, what
sort of gambols had occupied them during the night
season.

At the first dawn of light the watchful pixies
once more sought the tulips, and, though still

54

THE TULIP FAIRIES. 55

invisible they could be heard kissing and caressing
their babies. The tulips, thus favoured by a race
of genii, retained their beauty much longer than any
other flowers in the garden, whilst, though contrary
to their nature, as the pixies breathed over them,
they became as fragrant as roses, and so delighted
at all was the old woman who kept the garden that
she never suffered a single tulip to be plucked from
its stem.

At length, however, she died, and the heir who
succeeded her destroyed the enchanted flowers, and
converted the spot into a parsley-bed, a circumstance
which so disappointed and offended the pixies, that
they caused all the parsley to wither away, and,
indeed, for many years nothing would grow in the
beds of the whole garden. These sprites, however,
though eager in resenting an injury, were, like most
warm spirits, equally capable of returning a benefit,
and if they destroyed the product of the good old
woman's garden when it had fallen into unworthy
hands, they tended the bed that wrapped her clay
with affectionate solicitude. They were heard
lamenting and singing sweet dirges around her
grave ; nor did they neglect to pay this mournful
tribute to her memory every night before the moon
was at the full, for then their high solemnity of
dancing, singing, and rejoicing took place to hail
the queen of the night on completing her circle in
the heavens. No human hand ever tended the grave

56 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

of the poor old woman who had nurtured the tulip
bed for the delight of these elfin creatures ; but no
rank weed was ever seen to grow upon it. The sod
was ever green, and the prettiest flowers would
spring up without sowing or planting, and so they
continued to do until it was supposed the mortal
body was reduced to its original dust.

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND
THE GIANTS.

I.

[From a Chap-book printed and sold in Aldermary
Churchyard, London. Probable date, 1780.]

IN the reign of King Arthur, near to the Land's
End of England, in the County of Cornwall, lived
a wealthy farmer, who had a son named Jack. He
was brisk and of a ready wit, so that whatever he
could not perform by force and strength he completed
by wit and policy. Never was any person heard of
that could worst him. Nay, the very learned many
times he has baffled by his cunning and sharp
inventions.

In those days the Mount of Cornwall was kept by
a large and monstrous giant of eighteen feet high,
and about three yards in circumference, of a fierce
and grim countenance, the terror of the neighbouring
towns and villages.

His habitation was in a cave in the midst of the
Mount. Never would he suffer any living creature
to keep near him. His feeding was on other men's

57

58 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

cattle, which often became his prey, for whenever he
wanted food, he would wade over to the mainland,
where he would well furnish himself with whatever
he could find, for the people at his approach would
all forsake their habitations. Then would he seize
upon their cows and oxen, of which he would think
nothing to carry over upon his back half a dozen at
one time ; and as for their sheep and boys, he would
tie them round his waist like a bunch of candles.
This he practised for many years, so that a great
part of the county of Cornwall was very much im-
poverished by him.

Jack having undertaken to destroy this voracious
monster, he furnished himself with a horn, a shovel,
and a pickaxe, and over to the mount he went in
the beginning of a dark winter's evening, where he
fell to work, and before morning had dug a pit
twenty-two feet deep, and in width nearly the same,
and covering it over with sticks and straw, and then
strewing a little mould over it, it appeared like
plain ground. Then, putting his horn to his mouth,
he blew tan-tivy, tan-tivy, which noise awoke the
giant, who came roaring towards Jack, crying
out —

" You incorrigible villain, you shall pay dearly for
disturbing me, for I will broil you for my breakfast."

These words were no sooner spoke, but he tumbled
headlong into the pit, and the heavy fall made the
foundation of the Mount to shake.

English.

HERE'S THE VALIANT CORNISHMAN.

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 59

" 0 Mr. Giant, where are you now *? Oh, faith,
you are gotten into Lob's Pound, where I will surely
plague you for your threatening words. What do
you think now of broiling me for your breakfast ]
Will no other diet serve you but poor Jack 1 "

Having thus spoken and made merry with him a
while, he struck him such a blow on the crown with
his pole-axe that he tumbled down, and with a groan
expired. This done, Jack threw the dirt in upon
him and so buried him. Then, searching the cave,
he found much treasure.

Now when the magistrates who employed Jack
heard that the job was over, they sent for him,
declaring that he should be henceforth called Jack
the Giant Killer, and in honour thereof presented
him with a sword and an embroidered belt, upon
which these words were written in letters of gold —

" Here 's the valiant Cornish man,
Who slew the giant, Cormoran."

The news of Jack's victory was soon spread over
the western parts, so that another giant, called Old
Blunderbore, hearing of it, vowed to be revenged on
Jack, if it ever was his fortune to light on him.
The giant kept an enchanted castle situated in the
midst of a lonesome wood.

About four months after as Jack was walk-
ing by the borders of this wood, on his journey
towards Wales, he grew weary, and therefore sat

60 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

himself down by the side of a pleasant fountain,
when a deep sleep suddenly seized him. At this
time the giant, coming there for water, found him,
and by the lines upon his belt immediately knew
him to be Jack, who had killed his brother giant.
So, without any words, he took him upon his
shoulder to carry him to his enchanted castle. As
he passed through a thicket, the jostling of the
boughs awoke Jack, who, finding himself in the
clutches of the giant was very much surprised,
though it was but the beginning of his terrors,
for, entering the walls of the castle, he found the
floor strewn and the walls covered with the skulls
and bones of dead men, when the giant told him
his bones should enlarge the number of what he
saw. He also told him that the next day he
would eat him with pepper and vinegar, and he did
not question but that he would find him a curious
breakfast. This said, he locks up poor Jack in an
upper room, leaving him there while he went out to
fetch another giant who lived in the same wood,
that he also might partake of the pleasure they
should have in the destruction of honest Jack.
While he was gone dreadful shrieks and cries
affrighted Jack, especially a voice which continually

cried —

" Do what you can to get away,
Or you '11 become the giant's prey ;
He 'a gone to fetch hia brother who
Will likewise kill and torture you."

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 61

This dreadful noise so affrighted poor Jack, that
he was ready to run distracted. Then, going to a
window he opened the casement, and beheld afar
off the two giants coming.

" So now," quoth Jack to himself, " my death or
deliverance is at hand."

There were two strong cords in the room by him,
at the end of which he made a noose, and as the
giants were unlocking the iron gates, he threw the
ropes over the giants' heads, and then threw the
other end across a beam, when he pulled with all
his might till he had throttled them. Then, fastening
the ropes to a beam, he returned to the window,
where he beheld the two giants black in the face,
and so sliding down the ropes, he came upon the
heads of the helpless giants, who could not defend
themselves, and, drawing his own sword, he slew
them both, and so delivered himself from their
intended cruelty. Then, taking the bunch of keys,
he entered the castle, where, upon strict search, he
found three ladies tied up by the hair of their heads,
and almost starved to death.

"Sweet ladies," said Jack, "I have destroyed the
monster and his brutish brother, by which means I
have obtained your liberties."

This said, he presented them with the keys of the
castle, and proceeded on his journey to Wales.

Jack having got but little money, thought it
prudent to make the best of his way by travelling

62 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

hard, and at length, losing his road, he was benighted,
and could not get a place of entertainment, till,
coining to a valley between two hills, he found a
large house in a lonesome place, and by reason of
his present necessity he took courage to knock at
the gate. To his amazement there came forth a
monstrous giant, having two heads, yet he did not
seem so fiery as the other two, for he was a Welsh
giant, and all he did was by private and secret
malice, under the false show of friendship. Jack,
telling his condition, he bid him welcome, showing
him into a room with a bed, where he might take
his night's repose. Upon this Jack undressed him-
self, but as the giant was walking to another
apartment Jack heard him mutter these words to
himself —

"Tho' here you lodge with me this night,
You shall not see the nioruiug light,
My club shall dash your brains out quite."

" Say you so ? " says Jack. " Is this one of your
Welsh tricks ? I hope to be as cunning as you."

Then, getting out of bed, and feeling about the
room in the dark, he found a thick billet of wood,
and laid it in the bed in his stead, then he hid
himself in a dark corner of the room. In the dead
time of the night came the giant with his club, and
he struck several blows on the bed where Jack had
artfully laid the billet. Then the giant returned
back to his own room, supposing he had broken all

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 63

his bones. Early in the morning Jack came to
thank him for his lodging.

"Oh," said the giant, "how have you rested?
Did you see anything in the night ? "

"No," said Jack, "but a rat gave me three or
four slaps with his tail."

Soon after the giant went to breakfast on a great
bowl of hasty pudding, giving Jack but a small
quantity. Jack, being loath to let him know he
could not eat with him, got a leather bag, and,
putting it artfully under his coat, put the pudding
into it. Then he told the giant he would show him
a trick, and taking up a knife he ripped open the
bag and out fell the pudding. The giant thought he
had cut open his stomach and taken the pudding out.

" Odds splutters," says he, " hur can do that hur-
self," and, taking the knife up, he cut himself so
badly that he fell down and died.

Thus Jack outwitted the Welsh giant and pro-
ceeded on his journey.

King Arthur's only son desired his father to
furnish him with a certain sum of money, that he
might go and seek his fortune in the principality of
Wales, where a beautiful lady lived, whom he had
heard was possessed with seven evil spirits.

The king, his father, counselled him against it,
yet he could not be persuaded, so the favour was
granted, which was one horse loaded with money,
and another to ride on. Thus he went forth with-

64 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

out any attendants, and after several days' travel he
came to a large market-town in Wales, where he
beheld a vast crowd of people gathered together.
The king's son demanded the reason of it, and was
told that they had arrested a corpse for many large
sums of money, which the deceased owed before he
died. The king's son replied —

"It is a pity that creditors should be so cruel.
Go, bury the dead, and let the creditors come to my
lodgings, and their debts shall be discharged."

Accordingly they came, and in such great numbers
that before night he had almost left himself penni-
less. Now Jack the Giant Killer being there, and
seeing the generosity of the king's son, desired to be
his servant. It being agreed on, the next morning
they set forward. As they were riding out of the
town's end, an old woman cried out —

" He has owed me twopence seven years, pray,
sir, pay me as well as the rest."

The king's son put his hand in his pocket and
gave it her, it being the last money he had, then,
turning to Jack, he said —

" Take no thought nor heed. Let me alone, and
I warrant you we will never want."

Now Jack had a small spell in his pocket, the
which served for a refreshment, after which they had
but one penny left between them. They spent the
forenoon in travel and familiar discourse, until the
sun grew low, when the king's son said-1-

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 65

"Jack, since we have got no money where can
we lodge to-night ? "

Jack replied —

" Master, we will do well enough, for I have an
uncle who lives within two miles of this place. He
is a huge and monstrous giant, having three heads.
He will beat five hundred men in armour, and make
them fly before him."

" Alas ! " said the king's son, " what shall we do
there? He will eat us up at a mouthful — nay, we
are scarce sufficient to fill one hollow tooth."

" It is no matter for that," says Jack. " I myself
will go before and prepare the way for you. Tarry
here, and wait my return."

He waited, and Jack rode full speed. Coming to
the castle gate, he immediately began to knock with
such force that all the neighbouring hills resounded.
The giant, roaring with a voice like thunder, called —

" Who is there * "

" None, but your poor cousin Jack."

"And what news," said he, "with my cousin
Jack?"

He replied —

" Dear uncle, heavy news."

" God wot ! Prithee ! what heavy news can come
to me 1 I am a giant with three heads, and besides,
thou knowest, I fight five hundred men in armour,
and make them all fly like chaff before the wind."

" Oh," said Jack, " but here is a king's son coming

66 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

with a thousand men in armour to kill you, and to
destroy all you have."

" 0 my cousin Jack, this is heavy news indeed,
but I have a large vault underground where I will
run and hide myself, and you shall lock, bolt, and
bar me in, and keep the keys till the king's son is
gone. "

Jack, having now secured the giant, returned and
fetched his master, and both made merry with the
best dainties the house afforded. In the morning
Jack furnished his master with fresh supplies of
gold and silver, and having set him three miles on
the road out of the giant's smell, he returned and
let his uncle out of the hole, who asked Jack what
he should give him for his care of him, seeing his
castle was demolished.

"Why," said Jack, "I desire nothing but your
old rusty sword, the coat in the closet, and the cap
and the shoes at your bed's head."

" Ay," said the giant, '•' thou shalt have them,
and be sure keep you them, for my sake. They are
things of excellent use. The coat will keep you
invisible, the cap will furnish you with knowledge,
the sword cuts asunder whatever you strike, and the
shoes are of extraordinary swiftness. They may be
serviceable to you, so take them with all my heart."

Jack took them, and immediately followed his
master. Having overtaken him, they soon arrived
at the lady's dwelling, who, finding the king's son to

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 67

be a suitor, prepared a banquet for him, which being
ended, she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief,
saying — " You must show me this to-morrow morn-
ing, or lose your head," and then she put it in her
bosom.

The king's son went to bed right sorrowful, but
Jack's cap of knowledge instructed him how to
obtain the handkerchief. In the midst of the night
the lady called upon her familiar to carry her to
Lucifer. Jack whipped on his coat of darkness,
with his shoes of swiftness, and was there before
her, but could not be seen by reason of his coat,
which rendered him perfectly invisible to Lucifer
himself. When the lady came she gave him the
handkerchief, from whom Jack took it, and brought
it to his master, who, showing it the next morning
to the lady, saved his life. This much surprised the
lady, but he had yet a harder trial to undergo. The
next night the lady salutes the king's son, telling
him he must show her the next day the lips she
kissed last or lose his head.

" So I will," replied he, " if you kiss none but
mine."

" It is neither here nor there for that," says she.
" If you do not, death is your portion."

At midnight she went again and chid Lucifer for
letting the handkerchief go.

" But now," said she, " I shall be too hard for the
king's son, for I will kiss thee, and he is to show me

68 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

the lips I kissed last, and he can never show me thy
lips."

Jack, standing up with his sword of sharpness,
cut off the evil spirit's head, and brought it under
his invisible coat to his master, who laid it at the
end of his bolster, and in the morning, when the
lady came up, he pulled it out and showed her the
lips which she kissed last. Thus, she having been
answered twice, the enchantment broke, and the
evil spirit left her, to their mutual joy and satisfac-
tion. Then she appeared her former self, both
beauteous and virtuous. They were married the
next morning, and soon after returned with joy to
the court of King Arthur, where Jack, for his good
services, was made one of the knights of the Bound
Table.

II.

[From a Chap-book, printed and sold at Newcastle,
by J. WHITE, 1711.]

JACK, having been successful in all his undertak-
ings, and resolved not to be idle for the future, but to
perform what service he could for the honour of his
king and country, humbly requested of the king, his
royal master, to fit him with a horse and money, to
travel in search of strange and new adventures.
" For," said he, " there are many giants yet living
in the remote parts of the kingdom, and in the

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 69

dominions of Wales, to the unspeakable damage of
your majesty's liege subjects, wherefore, may it
please your majesty to give me encouragement, and
I doubt r«ot but in a short time to cut them all off,
root and branch, and so rid the realm of those cruel
giants and devouring monsters in nature."

Now, when the king had heard these noble pro-
positions, and had duly considered the mischievous
practices of those bloodthirsty giants, he immedi-
ately granted what honest Jack requested. And on
the first day of March, being thoroughly furnished
with all necessaries for his progress, he took his
leave, not only of King Arthur, but likewise of
all the trusty and hardy knights belonging to the
Round Table, who, after much salutation and friendly
greeting, parted, the king and nobles to their courtly
palaces, and Jack the Giant Killer to the eager
pursuit of Fortune's favours, taking Avith him the
cap of knowledge, sword of sharpness, shoes of swift-
ness, and likewise the invisible coat, the latter to
perfect and complete the dangerous enterprises that
lay before him.

He travelled over vast hills and wonderful moun-
tains till, at the end of three days, he came to a
large and spacious wood, through which he must
needs pass, where, on a sudden, to his great amaze-
ment, he heard dreadful shrieks and cries. Casting
his eyes around to observe what it might be, he
beheld with wonder a giant rushing along with a

70 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

worthy knight and his fair lady, whom he held by
the hair of their heads in his hands, with as much
ease as if they had been but a pair of gloves, the
sight of which melted honest Jack into tears of pity
and compassion. Alighting off his horse, which he
left tied to an oak-tree, and then putting on his
invisible coat, under which he carried his sword of
sharpness, he came up to the giant, and, though he
made several passes at him, yet, nevertheless, he
could not reach the trunk of his body by reason of
his height, though he wounded his thighs in several
places. At length, giving him a swinging stroke,
he cut off both his legs, just below the knees, so
that the trunk of his body made not only the ground
to shake, but likewise the trees to tremble Avith the
force of its fall, at which, by mere fortune, the
knight and his lady escaped his rage. Then had
Jack time to talk with him, and, setting his foot
upon his neck, he said —

" Thou savage and barbarous wretch, I am come
to execute upon you the just reward of your villainy,"
and with that, running him through and through,
the monster sent forth a hideous groan, and yielded
up his life into the hands of the valiant conqueror,
Jack the Giant Killer, while the noble knight and
virtuous lady were both joyful spectators of his
sudden downfall and their deliverance.

This being done, the courteous knight and his
fair lady not only returned Jack hearty thanks for

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 71

their deliverance, but also invited him home, there
to refresh himself after the dreadful encounter, as
likewise to receive some ample reward, by way of
gratuity, for his good service.

" No," quoth Jack : " I cannot be at ease till I
find out the den which was this monster's habita-
tion."

The knight, hearing this, waxed right sorrowful
and replied —

" Xoble stranger, it is too much to run a second
risk, for note, this monster lived in a den under yon
mountain with a brother of his, more fierce and fiery
than himself. Therefore, if you should go thither
and perish in that attempt it would be the heart-
breaking of both me and my lady. Therefore let
me persuade you to go with us, and desist from any
further pursuit."

" Nay," quoth Jack, " if there be another — nay,
were there twenty, I would shed the last drop of
blood in my body before one of them should escape
my fury. When I have finished this task I will
come and pay my respects to you."

So, having taken the directions to their habita-
tion, he mounted his horse, leaving them to return
home, while he went in pursuit of the deceased
giant's brother. He had not ridden past a mile and
a half before he came in sight of the cave's mouth,
near to the entrance of which he beheld the other
giant sitting upon a huge block of timber with a

72 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

knotted iron club lying by his side, waiting, as Jack
supposed, for his brother's return. His goggle eyes
appeared like terrible flames of fire. His counten-
ance was grim and ugly, his cheeks being like a
couple of large fat flitches of bacon. Moreover, the
bristles of his beard seemed to resemble rods of iron
wire. His locks hung down upon his broad
shoulders, like curled snakes or hissing adders.

Jack alighted from his horse and put him into a
thicket, then, with his coat of darkness, he came some-
what nearer to behold this figure, and said softly —

" Oh ! are you there ? It will be not long e'er I
shall take you by the beard."

The giant all this time could not see him by
reason of his invisible coat. So, coming up close
to him, valiant Jack, fetching a blow at his head
with his sword of sharpness, and missing something
of his arm, cut off the giant's nose. The pain was
terrible, and so he put up his hands to feel for his
nose, and when he could not find it, he raved and
roared louder than claps of thunder. Though he
turned up his large eyes, he could not see from
whence the blow came which had done him that
great disaster, yet, nevertheless, he took up his iron-
knotted club, and began to lay about him like one
that was stark staring mad.

"Nay," quoth Jack, "if you are for that sport,
then I will despatch you quickly, for I fear an
accidental blow should fall on me."

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 73

Then, as the giant rose from his block, Jack
makes no more to do but runs the sword up to the
hilt in his body, where he left it sticking for a while,
and stood himself laughing, with his hands akimbo,
to see the giant caper and dance, crying out.

The giant continued raving for an hour or more,
and at length fell down dead, whose dreadful fall
had like to have crushed poor Jack had he not been
nimble to avoid the same.

This being done, Jack cut off both the giants'
heads and sent them to King Arthur by a wagoner
whom he hired for the purpose, together with an
account of his prosperous success in all his under-
takings.

Jack, having thus despatched these monsters, re-
solved with himself to enter the cave in search of
these giants' treasure. He passed along through
many turnings and windings, which led him at
length to a room paved with free-stone, at the
upper end of which was a boiling cauldron. On
the right hand stood a large table where, as he
supposed, the giants used to dine. He came to an
iron gate where was a window secured with bars of
iron, through which he looked, and there beheld a
vast many miserable captives, who, seeing Jack at
a distance, cried out with a loud voice —

" Alas ! young man, art thou come to be one
amongst us in this miserable den 1 "

"Ay," quoth Jack, "I hope I shall not tarry

English. p

74 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

long here ; but pray tell me what is the meaning of
your captivity ? "

" Why," said one young man, " I '11 tell you. We
are persons that have been taken by the giants that
keep this cave, and here we are kept till such time
as they have occasion for a particular feast, and
then the fattest amongst us is slaughtered and pre-
pared for their devouring jaws. It is not long
since they took three for the same purpose."

" Say you so," quoth Jack ; " well, I have given
them both such a dinner that it will be long enough
e'er they '11 have occasion for any more."

The miserable captives were amazed at his words.

" You may believe me," quoth Jack, " for I have
slain them with the point of my sword, and as for
their monstrous heads, I sent them in a wagon to
the court of King Arthur as trophies of my un-
paralleled victory."

For a testimony of the truth he had said, he un-
locked the iron gate, setting the miserable captives
at liberty, who all rejoiced like condemned male-
factors at the sight of a reprieve. Then, leading
them all together to the aforesaid room, he placed
them round the table, and set before them two
quarters of beef, as also bread and wine, so that
he feasted them very plentifully. Supper being
ended, they searched the giants' coffers, where, find-
ing a vast store of gold and silver, Jack equally
divided it among them. They all returned him

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 75

hearty thanks for their treasure and miraculous
deliverance. That night they went to their rest,
and in the morning they arose and departed — the
captives to their respective towns and places of
abode, and Jack to the house of the knight whom
he had formerly delivered from the hand of the
giant.

It was about sun-rising when Jack mounted his
horse to proceed on his journey, and by the help of
his directions he came to the knight's house some
time before noon, where he was received with all
demonstrations of joy imaginable by the knight and
his lady, who, in honourable respect to Jack, pre-
pared a feast, which lasted for many days, inviting
all the gentry in the adjacent parts, to whom the
worthy knight was pleased to relate the manner of
his former danger and the happy deliverance by the
undaunted courage of Jack the Giant Killer. By
way of gratitude he presented Jack with a ring of
gold, on which was engraved, by curious art, the
picture of the giant dragging a distressed knight
and his fair lady by the hair of the head, with this
motto —

" We are in sad distress, you see,
Under a giant's fierce command ;
But gained our lives and liberty
By valiant Jack's victorious hand.

Now, among the vast assembly there present were
five aged gentlemen who were fathers to some of

76 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

those miserable captives which Jack had lately set
at liberty, who, understanding that he was the person
that performed those great wonders, immediately
paid their venerable respects. After this their mirth
increased, and the smiling bowls went freely round
to the prosperous success of the victorious conqueror,
but, in the midst of all this mirth, a dark cloud
appeared which daunted all the hearts of the
honourable assembly.

Thus it was. A messenger brought the dismal
tidings of the approach of one Thunderdel, a huge
giant with two heads, who, having heard of the
death of his kinsmen, the above-named giants, was
come from the northern dales in search of Jack to
be revenged of him for their most miserable down-
fall. He was now within a mile of the knight's
seat, the country people flying before him from their
houses and habitations, like chaff before the wind.
When they had related this, Jack, not a whit
daunted, said —

" Let him come. I am prepared with a tool to
pick his teeth. And you, gentlemen and ladies,
walk but forth into the garden, and you shall be
the joyful spectators of this monstrous giant's death
and destruction."

To which they consented, every one wishing him
good fortune in that great and dangerous enterprise.

The situation of this knight's house take as follows:
It was placed in the midst of a small island, encom-

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 77

passed round with a vast moat, thirty feet deep and
twenty feet wide, over which lay a drawbridge.
Jack employed two men to cut this last on both
sides, almost to the middle, and then, dressing him-
self in his coat of darkness, likewise putting on
his shoes of swiftness, he marches forth against the
giant, with his sword of sharpness ready drawn.
When he came up to him, yet the giant could not
see Jack, by reason of his invisible coat which he
had on. Yet, nevertheless, he was sensible of some
approaching danger, which made him cry out in
these following words —

" Fe, fi, fo, fum !

I smell the blood of an Englishman ;
Be he alive or be he dead
I '11 grind his bones to make me bread."

" Sayest thou so 1 " quoth Jack, " then thou art a
monstrous miller indeed. But what if I serve thee
as I did the two giants of late ? On my conscience,
I should spoil your practice for the future."

At which time the giant spoke, in a voice as loud
as thunder —

" Art thou that villain which destroyed my kins-
men 1 Then will I tear thee with my teeth, and,
what is more, I will grind thy bones to powder."

" You will catch me first, sir," quoth Jack, and
with that he threw off his coat of darkness that the
giant might see him clearly, and then ran from him,
as if through fear. The giant, with foaming mouth

78 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

and glaring eyes, followed after, like a walking castle,
making the foundation of the earth, as it were, to
shake at every step. Jack led him a dance three
or four times round the moat belonging to the
knight's house, that the gentlemen and ladies might
take a full view of this huge monster of nature, who
followed Jack with all his might, but could not
overtake him by reason of his shoes of swiftness,
which carried him faster than the giant could
follow. At last Jack, to finish the work, took over
the bridge, the giant with full speed pursuing after
him, with his iron club upon his shoulder, but,
coming to the middle of the drawbridge, what with
the weight of his body and the most dreadful steps
that he took, it broke down, and he tumbled full
into the water, where he rolled and wallowed like
a whale. Jack, standing at the side of the moat,
laughed at the giant and said —

"You told me you would grind my bones to
powder. Here you have water enough. Pray,
where is your mill ] "

The giant fretted and foamed to hear him scoff
at that rate, and though he plunged from place to
place in the moat, yet he could not get out to be
avenged on his adversary. Jack at length got a
cast rope and cast it over the giant's two heads with
a slip-knot, and, by the help of a train of horses,
dragged him out again, with which the giant was
near strangled, and before Jack would let him loose

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 79

he cut off both his heads with his sword of sharp-
ness, in the full view of all the worthy assembly of
knights, gentlemen, and ladies, who gave a joyful
shout when they saw the giant fairly despatched.
Then, before he would either eat or drink, Jack
sent the heads also, after the others, to the court of
King Arthur, which being done, he, with the knights
and ladies, returned to their mirth and pastime,
which lasted for many days.

After some time spent in triumphant mirth and
pastime, Jack grew weary of riotous living, where-
fore, taking leave of the noble knights and ladies,
he set forward in search of new adventures.
Through many woods and groves he passed, meeting
with nothing remarkable, till at length, coming near
the foot of a high mountain, late at night, he knocked
at the door of a lonesome house, at which time an
ancient man, with a head as white as snow, arose
and let him in.

"Father," said Jack, "have you any entertain-
ment for a benighted traveller that has lost his
way ? "

" Yes," said the old man, " if you will accept of
such accommodation as my poor cottage will afford,
thou shalt be right welcome."

Jack returned him many thanks for his great
civility, wherefore down they sat together, and the
old man began to discourse him as follows —

" Son," said he, " I am sensible thou art the great

80 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

conqueror of giants, and it is in thy power to free
this part of the country from an intolerable burden
which we groan under. For, behold ! my son, on
the top of this high mountain there is an enchanted
castle kept by a huge monstrous giant named Galli-
gantus, who, by the help of an old conjuror, betrays
many knights and ladies into this strong castle,
where, by magic art, they are transformed into
sundry shapes and forms. But, above all, I lament
the fate of a duke's daughter, whom they snatched
from her father's garden by magic art, carrying her
through the air in a mourning chariot drawn, as it
were, by two fiery dragons, and, being secured
within the walls of the castle, she was immediately
transformed into the real shape of a white hind,
where she miserably moans her misfortune. Though
many worthy knights have endeavoured to break
the enchantment and work her deliverance, yet
none of them could accomplish this great work, by
reason of two dreadful griffins who were fixed by
magic art at the entrance of the castle gate, which
destroy any as soon as they see them. You, my
son, being furnished with an invisible coat, may
pass by them undiscovered, and on the brazen gates
of the castle you will find engraved in large char-
acters by what means the enchantment may be
broken."

The old man having ended his discourse, Jack
gave him his hand, with a faithful promise that in

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 81

the morning he would venture his life to break the
enchantment and free the lady, together with the
rest that were miserable partners in her calamity.

Having refreshed themselves with a small morsel
of meat, they laid them down to rest, and in the
morning Jack arose and put on his invisible coat,
oap of knowledge, and shoes of swiftness, and so
prepares himself for the dangerous enterprises.

Now, when he had ascended to the top of the
mountain, he soon discovered the two fiery griffins.
He passed on between them without fear, for they
could not see him by reason of his invisible coat.
Now, when he was got beyond them, he cast his eyes
around him, where he found upon the gates a golden
trumpet, hung in a chain of fine silver, under which
these lines were engraved —

" Whosoever shall this trumpet blow
Shall soon the giant overthrow,
And break the black enchantment straight,
So all shall be in happy state."

Jack had no sooner read this inscription but he
blew the trumpet, at which time the vast founda-
tion of the castle tumbled, and the giant, together
with the conjuror, was in horrid confusion, biting
their thumbs and tearing their hair, knowing their
wicked reign was at an end. At that time Jack,
standing at the giant's elbow, as he was stooping to
take up his club, at one blow, with his sword of

82 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

sharpness, cut off his head. The conjuror, seeing
this, immediately mounted into the air and was
carried away in a whirlwind. Thus was the whole
enchantment broken, and every knight and lady, that
had been for a long time transformed into birds and
beasts, returned to their proper shapes and likeness
again. As for the castle, though it seemed at first
to be of vast strength and bigness, it vanished in
a cloud of smoke, whereupon an universal joy
appeared among the released knights and ladies.
This being done, the head of Galligantus was like-
wise, according to the accustomed manner, conveyed
to the court of King Arthur, as a present made to
his majesty. The very next day, after having re-
freshed the knights and ladies at the old man's
habitation (who lived at the foot of the mountain),
Jack set forward for the court of King Arthur, with
those knights and ladies he had so honourably
delivered.

Coming to his majesty, and having related all the
passages of his fierce encounters, his fame rang
though the whole court, and, as a reward for his
good services, the king prevailed with the aforesaid
duke to bestow his daughter in marriage to honest
Jack, protesting that there was no man so worthy
of her as he, to all which the duke very honourably
consented. So married they were, and not only the
court, but likewise the kingdom were filled with joy
and triumph at the wedding. After which the king,

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 83

as a reward for all his good services done for the
nation, bestowed upon him a noble habitation with
a plentiful estate thereto belonging, where he and
his lady lived the residue of their days in great joy
and happiness.

THE FAIRIES' CUP.

"!N the province of the Deiri (Yorkshire), not
far from my birthplace," says William of Newbury,
" a wonderful thing occurred, which I have known
from my boyhood. There is a town a few miles
distant from the Eastern Sea, near which are those
celebrated waters commonly called Gipse. ... A
peasant of this town went once to see a friend who
lived in the next town, and it was late at night
when he was coming back, not very sober, when,
lo ! from the adjoining barrow, which I have often
seen, and which is not much over a quarter of a
mile from the town, he heard the voices of people
singing, and, as it were, joyfully feasting. He
wondered who they could be that were breaking in
that place, by their merriment, the silence of the
dead night, and he wished to examine into the matter
more closely. Seeing a door open in the side of
the barrow he went up to it and looked in, and
there he beheld a large and luminous house, full of
people, women as well as men, who were reclining
as at a solemn banquet. One of the attendants,
seeing him standing at the door, offered him a cup.

84

ONE Oi' THE ATTENDANTS OFFERED HIM A CUP

THE FAIRIES' CUP. 85

He took it, but would not drink, and pouring out
the contents, kept the vessel. A great tumult arose
at the banquet on account of his taking away the
cup, and all the guests pursued him, but he escaped
by the fleetness of the beast he rode, and got into
the town with his booty.

<; Finally this vessel of unknown material, of un-
usual colour, and of extraordinary form, was pre-
sented to Henry the Elder, King of the English,
as a valuable gift ; was then given to the Queen's
brother, David, King of the Scots, and was kept
for several years in the treasury of Scotland. A few
years ago, as I have heard from good authority, it
was given by William, King of the Scots, to Henry
the Second, who wished to see it."

THE WHITE LADY,

THERE was once on a time an old woman who lived
near Heathfield, in Devonshire. She made a slight
mistake, I do not know how, and got up at mid-
night, thinking it to be morning. This good woman
mounted her horse, and set off, panniers, cloak, and
all, on her way to market. Anon she heard a cry
of hounds, and soon perceived a hare making rapidly
towards her. The hare, however, took a turn and a
leap and got on the top of the hedge, as if it would
say to the old woman " Come, catch me." She liked
such hunting as this very well, put forth her hand,
secured the game, popped it into one of the panniers,
covered it over, and rode forward. She had not
gone far, when great was her alarm at perceiving on
the dismal and solitary waste of Heathfield, advanc-
ing at full pace, a headless horse, bearing a black
and grim rider, with horns sprouting from under a
little jockey-cap, and having a cloven foot thrust
into one stirrup. He was surrounded by a pack of
hounds which had tails that whisked about and
shone like fire, while the air itself had a strong
sulphurous scent. These were signs not to be mis-

THE WHITE LADY. 87

taken, and the poor old woman knew in a moment
that huntsman and hounds were taking a ride from
the regions below. It soon, however, appeared that
however clever the rider might be, he was no con-
juror, for he very civilly asked the old woman if she
could set him right, and point out which way the
hare was flown. The old woman probably thought
it was no harm to pay the father of lies in his own
coin, so she boldly gave him a negative, and he rode
on, not suspecting the cheat. When he was out of
sight the old woman perceived the hare in the
pannier began to move, and at length, to her great
amazement, it changed into a beautiful young lady,
all in white, who thus addressed her preserver —

" Good dame, I admire your courage, and I thank
you for the kindness with which you have saved me
from a state of suffering that must not be told to
human ears. Do not start when I tell you that I
am not an inhabitant of the earth. For a great
crime committed during the time I dwelt upon it, I
was doomed, as a punishment in the other world, to
be constantly pursued either above or below ground
by evil spirits, until I could get behind their tails
whilst they passed on in search of me. This diffi-
cult object, by your means, I have now happily
effected, and, as a reward for your kindness, I
promise that all your hens shall lay two eggs instead
of one, and that your cows shall yield the most
plentiful store of milk all the year round, that you

English. G

88 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

shall talk twice as much as you ever did before, and
your husband stand no chance in any matter be-
tween you to be settled by the tongue. But
beware of the devil, and don't grumble about tithes,
for my enemy and yours may do you an ill-turn
when he finds out you were clever enough to cheat
even him, since, like all great impostors, he does not
like to be cheated himself. He can assume all shapes,
except those of the lamb and dove."

The lady in white then vanished. The old
woman found the best possible luck that morning
in her traffic. And to this day the story goes in the
town, that from the Saviour of the world having
hallowed the form of the lamb, and the Holy Ghost
that of the dove, they can never be assumed by the
mortal enemy of the human race under any circum-
stances.

A PLEASANT AND DELIGHTFUL HISTORY
OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT.

[From a Chap-book, printed at Whitehaven by Ann Dunn,
Market Place. Probable date 1780.]

IN the reign before William the Conqueror, I have
read in an ancient history that there dwelt a man
in the parish of the Isle of Ely, in the county of
Cambridge, whose name was Thomas Hickathrift —
a poor man and a day-labourer, yet he was a very
stout man, and able to perform two days' work
instead of one. He having one son and no more
children in the world, he called him by his own
name, Thomas Hickathrift. This old man put his
son to good learning, but he would take none, for
he was, as we call them in this age, none of the
wisest sort, but something less, and had no docility
at all in him.

His father being soon called out of the world, his
mother was tender of him, and maintained him by
her hand labour as well as she could, he being sloth-

89

90 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

ful and not willing to work to get a penny for his
living, but all his delight was to be in the chimney-
corner, and he would eat as much at one time as
would serve four or five men. He was in height,
when he was but ten years of age, about eight feet ;
and in thickness, five feet; and his hand was like
unto a shoulder of mutton ; and in all his parts, from
top to toe, he was like unto a monster, and yet his
great strength was not known.

The first time that his strength was known was
by his mother's going to a rich farmer's house (she
being but a poor woman) to desire a bottle of straw
for herself and her son Thomas. The farmer, being
a very honest, charitable man, bid her take what she
would. She going home to her son Tom, said —

" I pray, go to such a place and fetch me a bottle
of straw ; I have asked him leave."

He swore he would not go.

" Nay, prithee, Tom, go," said his mother.

He swore again he would not go unless she would
borrow him a cart-rope. She, being willing to
please him, because she would have some straw, went
and borrowed him a cart-rope to his desire.

He, taking it, went his way. Coming to the
farmer's house, the master was in the barn, and two
men a-thrashing. Said Tom —

" I am come for a bottle of straw."

" Tom," said the master, " take as much as thou
canst carry."

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 91

He laid down the cart-rope and began to make
his bottle. Said they —

" Tom, thy rope is too short," and jeered poor
Tom, but he fitted the man well for it, for he made
his bottle, and when he had finished it, there was
supposed to be a load of straw in it of two thousand
pounds weight. Said they —

" What a great fool art thou. Thou canst not
carry the tenth of it."

Tom took the bottle, and flung it over his
shoulder, and made no more of it than we would do
of a hundredweight, to the great admiration of
master and man.

Tom Hickathrift's strength being then known in
the town they would no longer let him lie baking
by the fire in the chimney-corner. Every one would
be hiring him for work. They seeing him to have
so much strength told him that it was a shame for
him to live such a lazy course of life, and to be idle
day after day, as he did.

Tom seeing them bate him in such a manner as
they did, went first to one work and then to another,
but at length came to a man who would hire him to
go to the wood, for he had a tree to bring home, and
he would content him. Tom went with him, and
took with him four men besides ; but when they
came to the wood they set the cart to the tree, and
began to draw it up with pulleys. Tom seeing
them not able to stir it, said —

92 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

" Stand away, ye fools!" then takes it up and sets
it on one end and lays it in the cart.

" Now," says he, " see what a man can do ! "

" Marry, it is true," said they.

When they had done, as they came through
the wood, they met the woodman. Tom asked
him for a stick to make his mother a fire with.

" Ay," says the woodman. " Take one that thou
canst cany."

Tom espied a tree bigger than that one that was
in the cart, and lays it on his shoulder, and goes
home with it as fast as the cart and the six horses
could draw it. This was the second time that Tom's
strength was known.

When Tom began to know that he had more
strength than twenty men, he then began to be
merry and very tractable, and would run or jump ;
took great delight to be amongst company, and to
go to fairs and meetings, to see sports and pas-
times.

Going to a feast, the young men were all met,
some to cudgels, some to wrestling, some throwing
the hammer, and the like. Tom stood a little to
see the sport, and at last goes to them that were
throwing the hammer. Standing a little to see their
manlike sport, at last he takes the hammer in his
hand, to feel the weight of it, and bid them stand
out of the way, for he would throw it as far as he
could.

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 93

"Ay," said the smith, and jeered poor Tom.
" You '11 throw it a great way, I '11 warrant you."

Tom took the hammer in his hand and flung it.
And there was a river about five or six furlongs off,
and he flung it into that. When he had done, he
bid the smith fetch the hammer, and laughed the
smith to scorn.

When Tom had done this exploit he would go to
wrestling, though he had no more skill of it than an
ass but what he did by strength, yet he flung all
that came to oppose him, for if he once laid hold of
them they were gone. Some he would throw over
his head, some he would lay down slyly and how he
pleased. He would not like to strike at their heels,
but flung them two or three yards from him, ready
to break their necks asunder. So that none at last
durst go into the ring to wrestle with him, for they
took him to be some devil that was come among
them. So Tom's fame spread more and more in the
country.

Tom's fame being spread abroad both far and
near, there was not a man durst give him an angry
word, for he was something fool-hardy, and did not
care what he did unto them, so that all they that
knew him would not in the least displease him. At
length there was a brewer at Lynn that wanted a
good lusty man to carry his beer to the Marsh and
to Wisbeach, hearing of Tom, went to hire him, but
Tom seemed coy, and would not be his man until his

94 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

mother and friends persuaded him, and his master
entreated him. He likewise promised him that he
should have a new suit of clothes and everything
answerable from top to toe, besides he should eat of
the best. Tom at last yielded to be his man, and
his master told him how far he must go, for you
must understand there was a monstrous giant kept
some part of the Marsh, and none durst go that way,
for if they did he would keep them or kill them, or
else he would make bond slaves of them.

But to come to Tom and his master. He did
more work in one day than all his men could do in
three, so that his master, seeing him very tractable,
and to look well after his business, made him his
head man to go into the Marsh to carry beer by
himself, for he needed no man with him. Torn went
every day in the week to Wisbeach, which was a
very good journey, and it was twenty miles the road-
way.

Tom — going so long that wearisome journey, and
finding that way the giant kept was nearer by half,
and Tom having now got much more strength than
before by being so well kept and drinking so much
strong ale as he did — one day as he was going to
Wisbeach, and not saying anything to his master or
to any of his fellow-servants, he was resolved to
make the nearest way to the wood or lose his life,
to win the horse or lose the saddle, to kill or be
killed, if he met with the giant. And with this

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 95

resolution he goes the nearest way with his cart and
horses to go to Wisbeach ; but the giant, perceiving
him, and seeing him to be bold, thought to prevent
him, and came, intending to take his cart for a prize,
but he cared not a bit for him.

The giant met Tom like a lion, as though he
would have swallowed him up at a mouthful.

" Sirrah," said he, " who gave you authority to
come this way ? Do you not know I make all stand
in fear of my sight, and you, like an impudent rogue,
must come and fling my gates open at your pleasure?
How dare you presume to do this? Are you so
careless of your life ? I will make thee an example
for all rogues under the sun. Dost thou not care
what thou dost ? Do you see how many heads hang
upon yonder tree that have offended my law?
Thy head shall hang higher than all the rest for an
example ! "

Tom made him answer —

" A fig for your news, for you shall not find me
like one of them."

" No ? " said the giant. " Why ? Thou art but a
fool if thou comest to fight with such a one as I am,
and bring no weapon to defend thyself withal."

Said Tom—

" I have a weapon here will make you understand
you are a traitorly rogue."

" Ay, sirrah," said the giant ; and took that word
in high disdain that Tom should call him a traitorly

96 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

rogue, and with that he ran into his cave to fetch
out his club, intending to dash out Tom's brains at
the first blow.

Tom knew not what to do for a weapon, for he
knew his whip would do but little good against such
a monstrous beast as he was, for he was in height
about twelve feet, and six about the waist. While
the giant went for his club, Tom bethought himself
of two very good weapons, for he makes no more ado
but takes his cart and turns it upside down, takes
out the axle-tree, and a wheel for his shield and
buckler, and very good weapons they were, espe-
cially in time of need. The giant, coming out again,
began to stare at Tom, to see him take the wheel in
one hand, and the axle-tree in the other, to defend
him with.

" Oh," said the giant, " you are like to do great
service with these weapons. I have here a twig that
will beat thee and thy wheel and axle-tree to the
ground."

That which the giant called a twig was as thick
as some mill-posts are, but Tom was not daunted
for his big and threatening speech, for he per-
fectly saw there was no way except one, which was
to kill or be killed. So the giant made at Tom
with such a vehement force that he made Tom's
wheel crack again, and Tom lent the giant as good,
for he took him such a weighty blow on the side of
his head, that he made the giant reel again.

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 97

"What," said Tom, "are you drunk with my
strong beer already ?"

The giant, recovering, laid on Tom, but still as
they came, Tom kept them off with his wheel, so
that he had no hurt at all. In short, Tom plied his
work so well, and laid such huge blows on the giant
that sweat and blood together ran down his face,
and, being fat and foggy with fighting so long, he
was almost tired out, and he asked Tom to let him
drink a little water, and then he would fight him
again.

" No," said Tom, " my mother did not teach me
that wit. Who would be the fool then 1 "

Tom, seeing the giant began to grow weary, and
that he failed in his blows, thought it was best to
make hay while the sun did shine, for he laid on so
fast as though he had been mad, till he brought the
giant down to the ground.

The giant seeing himself down, and Tom laying
so hard on him, made him roar in a most lamentable
manner, and prayed him not to take away his life
and he would do anything for him, and yield himself
to him to be his servant.

But Tom, having no more mercy on him than a
dog or a bear, laid still on the giant till he laid him
for dead. When he had done, he cut off his head,
and went into his cave, where he found great store
of gold and silver, which made his heart leap.

Now, having done this action in killing the giant,

98 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

he put his cart together again, loaded it, and drove
it to Wisbeach and delivered his beer, and, coming
home to his master, he told it to him. His master
was so overjoyed at the news that he would not be-
lieve him till he had seen ; and, getting up the next
day, he and his master went to see if he spoke the
truth or not, together with most of the town of
Lynn. When they came to the place and found the
giant dead, he then showed the place where the
head was, and what silver and gold there was in the
cave. All of them leaped for joy, for this monster
was a great enemy to all the country.

This news was spread all up and down the country,
how Tom Hickathrift had killed the giant, and well
was he that could run or go to see the giant and his
cave. Then all the folks made bonfires for joy, and
Tom was a better respected man than before.

Tom took possession of the giant's cave by con-
sent of the whole country, and every one said he
deserved twice as much more. Tom pulled down
the cave and built him a fine house where the cave
stood, and in the ground that the giant kept by force
and strength, some of which he gave to the poor for
their common, the rest he made pastures of, and
divided the most part into tillage to maintain him
and his mother, Jane Hickathrift.

Tom's fame was spread both far and near through-
out the country, and it was no longer Tom but
Mr. Hickathrift, so that he was now the chiefest

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 99

man among them, for the people feared Tom's
anger as much as they did the giant before. Tom
kept men and maid servants, and lived most bravely.
He made a park to keep deer in. Near to his
house he built a church and gave it the name of
St. James's Church, because he killed the giant on
that day, which is so called to this hour. He did
many good deeds, and became a public benefactor
to all persons that lived near him.

Tom having got so much money about him, and
being not used to it, could hardly tell how to
dispose of it, but yet he did use the means to do it,
for he kept a pack of hounds and men to hunt with
him, and who but Tom then1? So he took such
delight in sports that he would go far and near to
any meetings, as cudgel-play, bear baiting, football,
and the like.

Now as Tom was riding one day, he alighted off
his horse to see that sport, for they were playing for
a wager. Tom was a stranger, and none did know
him there. But Tom spoiled their sport, for he,
meeting the football, took it such a kick, that they
never found their ball more. They could see it fly,
but whither none could tell. They all wondered at
it, and began to quarrel with Tom, but some of
them got nothing by it, for Tom gets a great spar
which belonged to a house that was blown down,
and all that stood in his way he knocked down, so
that all the county was up in arms to take Tom,

100 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

but all in vain, for he manfully made way wherever
he came.

When he was gone from them, and returning
homewards, he chanced to be somewhat late in the
evening on the road. There met him four stout,
lusty rogues that had been robbing passengers that
way, and none could escape them, for they robbed all
they met, both rich and poor. They thought when
they met with Tom he would be a good prize for
them, and, perceiving he was alone made cock-sure
of his money, but they were mistaken, for he got a
prize by them. Whereupon, meeting him, they bid
him stand and deliver.

" What," said Tom, " shall I deliver ? "

" Your money, sirrah," said they.

"But," said Tom, "you will give me better
words for it, and you must be better armed."

" Come, come," said they, " we do not come here
to parley, but we come for money, and money we
will have before we stir from this place."

" Ay ! " said Tom. " Is it so 1 Then get it and
take it."

So then one of them made at him, but he presently
unarmed him and took away his sword, which was
made of good trusty steel, and smote so hard at the
others that they began to put spurs to their horses
and be-gone. But he soon stayed their journey, for
one of them having a portmanteau behind him, Tom,
supposing there was money in it, fought with a great

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 101

deal of more courage than before, till at last he killed
two of the four, and the other two he wounded very
sore so that they cried out for quarter. With much
ado he gave them their lives, but took all their
money, which was about two hundred pounds, to
bear his expenses home. Now when Tom came
home he told them how he had served the football-
players and the four highwaymen, which caused a
laughter from his old mother. Then, refreshing
himself, he went to see how all things were, and
what his men had done since he went from home.

Then going into his forest, he walked up and
down, and at last met with a lusty tinker that had a
good staff on his shoulder, and a great dog to carry
his leather bag and tools of work. Tom asked the
tinker from whence he came, and whither he was
going, for that was no highway. The tinker, being
a sturdy fellow, bid him go look, and what was that
to him, for fools would be meddling.

" No," says Tom, " but I '11 make you know, before
you and I part, it is me."

" Ay ! " said the tinker, " I have been this three
long years, and have had no combat with any man,
and none durst make me an answer. I think they
be all cowards in this country, except it be a man
who is called Thomas Hickathrift who killed a
giant. Him I would fain see to have one combat
with him."

" Ay ! " said Tom, " but, methinks, I might be

102 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

master in your mouth. I am the man : what have
you to say to me 1 "

" Why," said the tinker, " verily, I am glad we
have met so happily together, that we may have
one single combat."

" Sure," said Tom, " you do but jest 1 "

" Marry," said the tinker, " I am in earnest."

" A match," said Tom. " Will you give me leave
to get a twig 1 "

11 Ay," says the tinker. " Hang him that will
fight a man unarmed. I scorn that."

Tom steps to the gate, and takes one of the rails
for his staff. So they fell to work. The tinker at
Tom and Tom at the tinker, like unto two giants,
they laid one at the other. The tinker had on a
leathern coat, and at every blow Tom gave the
tinker his coat cracked again, yet the tinker did not
give way to Tom an inch, but Tom gave the tinker
a blow on the side of the head which felled the
tinker to the ground.

" Now, tinker, where are you 1 " said Tom.

But the tinker, being a man of metal, leaped up
again, and gave Tom a blow which made him reel
again, and followed his blows, and then took Tom on
the other side, which made Tom's neck crack again.
Tom flung down the weapon, and yielded the tinker
to be the best man, and took him home to his house,
where I shall leave Tom and the tinker to be
recovered of their many wounds and bruises, which

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 103

relation is more enlarged as you may read in the
second part of Thomas Hickathrift.

II.

[From a Chap-book. The book bears no date or note as
to where or by whom it was printed. It was probably
printed at London about the year 1780.]

IN and about the Isle of Ely many disaffected
persons, to the number of ten thousand and upwards,
drew themselves up in a body, presuming to contend
for their pretended ancient rights and liberties,
insomuch that the gentry and civil magistrates of
the country were in great danger, at which time the
sheriff, by night, privately got into the house of
Thomas Hickathrift as a secure place of refuge in so
imminent a time of danger, where before Thomas
Hickathrift he laid open the villainous intent of
this headstrong, giddy-brained multitude.

"Mr. Sheriff," quoth Tom, "what service my
brother " (meaning the tinker) " and I can perform
shall not be wanting."

This said, in the morning by daybreak, with
trusty clubs, they both went forth, desiring the
Sheriff to be their guide in conducting them to the
place of the rebels' rendezvous. When they came
there, Tom and the tinker marched up to the head of

English H

104 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

the multitude, and demanded of them the reason
why they disturbed the government, to which they
answered with a loud cry —

" Our will 's our law, and by that alone we will
be governed."

"Nay," quoth Tom, "if it be so, these trusty
clubs are our weapons, and by them you shall be
chastised," which words were no sooner out of his
mouth than the tinker and he put themselves both
together in the midst of the throng, and with their
clubs beat the multitude down, trampling them
under their feet. Every blow which they struck
laid twenty or thirty before them, nay — remarkable
it was, the tinker struck a tall man, just upon the
nape of the neck, with that force that his head flew
off and was carried violently fourteen feet from him,
where it knocked down one of their chief ring-
leaders,— Tom, on the other hand, still pressing
forward, till by an unfortunate blow he broke his
club. Yet he was not in the least dismayed, for he
presently seized upon a lusty, stout, raw-boned
miller, and made use of him for a weapon, till at
length they cleared the field, so that there was not
found one that dare lift up a hand against them,
having run to holes and corners to hide themselves.
Shortly after some of their heads were taken and
made public examples of justice, the rest being
pardoned at the humble request of Thomas Hicka-
thrift and the tinker.

THESE ARE MY TRUSTY AND WELL-BELOVED SUBJECTS,

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 105

The king, being truly informed of the faithful
services performed by these his loving subjects,
Thomas Hickathrift and the tinker, he was pleased
to send for them to his palace, where a royal banquet
was prepared for their entertainment, most of the
nobility being present. Now after the banquet was
over, the king said unto all that were there —

" These are my trusty and well-beloved subjects,
men of approved courage and valour. They are the
men that overcame and conquered ten thousand,
which were got together to disturb the peace of my
realm. According to the character that hath been
given to Thomas Hickathrift and Henry Nonsuch,
persons here present, they cannot be matched in any
other kingdom in the world. Were it possible to
have an army of twenty thousand such as these, I
dare venture to act the part of Alexander the Great
over again, yet, in the meanwhile, as a proof of
my royal favour, kneel down and receive the ancient
order of knighthood, Mr. Hickathrift," which was
instantly performed.

" And as for Henry Nonsuch, I will settle upon
him, as a reward for his great service, the sum of
forty shillings a year, during life," which said, the
king withdrew, and Sir Thomas Hickathrift and
Henry Nonsuch, the tinker, returned home, attended
by many persons of quality some miles from the
court. But, to the great grief of Sir Thomas, at
his return from the court, he found his aged mother

106 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

drawing to her end, who, in a few days after, died,
and was buried in the Isle of Ely.

Tom's mother being dead, and he left alone in a
large and spacious house, he found himself strange
and uncouth, therefore he began to consider with
himself that it would not be amiss to seek out for a
wife. Hearing of a young rich widow, not far from
Cambridge, to her he went and made his addresses,
and, at the first coming, she seemed to show him much
favour and countenance, but between this and his
coming again she had given some entertainment to
a more genteel and airy spark, who happened like-
wise to come while honest Tom was there the second
time. He looked wistfully at Tom, and he stared
as wistfully at him again. At last the young spark
began with abuseful language to affront Tom, telling
him that he was a great lubberly whelp, adding that
such a one as he should not pretend to make love
to a lady, as he was but a brewer's servant.

" Scoundrel ! " quoth Tom, " better words should
become you, and if you do not mend your manners
you shall not fail to feel my sharp correction."

At which the young spark challenged him forth
into the back-yard, for, as he said, he did not question
but to make a fool of Tom in a trice. Into the yard
they both walk together, the young spark with a
naked sword, and Tom with neither stick nor staff
in his hand nor any other weapon.

" What ! " says the spark, " have you nothing to

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 107

defend yourself? Well, T shall the sooner despatch
you."

Which said, he ran furiously forward, making a
pass at Tom, which he put by, and then, wheeling
round, Tom gave him such a swinging kick as
sent the spark, like a crow, up into the air, from
whence he fell upon the ridge of a thatched house,
and tli en came down into a large fish-pond, and had
been certainly drowned if it had not been for a poor
shepherd who was walking that way, and, seeing him
float upon the water, dragged him out with his hook,
and home he ran, like a drowned rat, while Tom
returned to the lady.

This young gallant being tormented in his mind
to think how Tom had conquered and shamed him
before his mistress, he was now resolved for speedy
revenge, and knowing that he was not able to cope
with a man of Tom's strength and activity, he,
therefore, hired two lusty troopers to lie in ambush
in a thicket which Tom was to pass through from
his home to the young lady. Accordingly they
attempted to set upon him.

" How, now," quoth Tom, " rascals, what would
you be at ? Are you, indeed, weary of the world
that you so unadvisedly set upon one who is able to
crush you in like a cucumber ? "

The troopers, laughing at him, said that they were
not to be daunted at his high words.

" High Avords," quoth Tom. " No, I will come to

108 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

action," and with that he ran in between these
armed troopers, catching them under his arm, horse
and men, with as much ease as if they had been but
a couple of baker's babbins, steering his course with
them hastily towards his own home. As he passed
through a meadow, in which there were many
haymakers at work, the poor distressed troopers
cried out —

" Stop him ! stop him ! He runs away with two
of the king's troopers."

The haymakers laughed heartily to see how Tom
hugged them along. Ever and anon he upbraided
them for their baseness, and declared that he would
make minced meat of them to feed the crows and
jackdaws about his house and habitation. This was
such a dreadful lecture to them that the poor rogues
begged that he would be merciful and spare their
lives, and they would discover the whole plot, and
who was the person that employed them. This
accordingly they did, and gained favour in the sight
of Tom, who pardoned them upon promise that they
would never be concerned in such a villainous action
for the time to come.

In regard Tom had been hindered by these
troopers, he delayed his visit to his lady till the
next day, and then, coming to her, gave her a full
account of what had happened. She was pleased at
heart at this wonderful relation, knowing it was
safe for a woman to marry with a man who was able

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HIGKATHRIFT. 109

to defend her against all assaults whatsoever, and
such a one she found Tom to be. The day of
marriage was accordingly appointed, and friends
and relations invited, yet secret malice, which is
never satisfied without sweet revenge, had like to
have prevented the solemnity, for, having three
miles to go to church, where they were to be married,
the aforesaid gentleman had provided a second time
Russians in armour, to the number of twenty-one,
he himself being then present, either to destroy the
life of Tom, or put them into strange consternation.
However, thus it happened. In a lonesome place
they rolled out upon them, making their first assault
upon Tom, and, with a spear, gave him a slight
wound, at which his love and the rest of the women
shrieked and cried like persons out of their wits.
Tom endeavoured all that he could to pacify them,
saying —

" Stand you still and I will show you pleasant
sport."

With that he caught a back-sword from the side
of a gentleman in his own company, with which he
so bravely behaved himself that at every stroke he
cut off a joint. Loath he was to touch the life of
any, but, aiming at their legs and arms, he lopped
them off so fast that, in less than a quarter of an
hour, there was not one in the company but what had
lost a limb, the green grass being stained with
their purple gore, and the ground strewn with legs

110 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

and arms, as 'tis with tiles from the tops of the
houses after a dreadful storm — his love and the rest
of the company standing all the while as joyful spec-
tators, laughing one at another, saying —

" What a company of cripples has he made, as it
were in the twinkling of an eye ! "

"Yes," quoth Tom, "I believe that for every drop
of blood that I lost, I have made the rascals pay me
a limb as a just tribute."

This done, he stept to a farmer's hard by, and
hired there a servant, giving him twenty shillings
to carry these cripples home to their respective
habitations in his cart. Then did he hasten with
his love to the church to be married, and then
returned home, where they were heartily merry
with their friends, after their fierce and dreadful
encounter.

Now, Tom being married, he made a plentiful
feast, to which he invited all the poor widows in
four or five parishes, for the sake of his mother,
whom he had lately buried. This feast was kept in
his own house, with all manner of varieties that the
country could afford, for the space of four days, in
honour likewise of the four victories which he had
lately obtained. Now, when the time of feasting was
ended, a silver cup was missing, and, being asked
about it, they every one denied they knew anything
about it. At length it was agreed that they should
all stand the search, which they did, and the cup was

A. PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. Ill

found on a certain old woman, named the widow
Stumbelow. Then were all the rest in a rage. Some
were for hanging her, others were for chopping the
old woman in pieces for her ingratitude to such a
generous soul as Sir Thomas Hickathrift, but he
entreated them all to be quiet, saying they should
not murder the old woman, for he would appoint a
punishment for her himself, which was this — he
bored a hole through her nose, and, tying a string
therein, then ordered her to be led by the nose
through all the streets and lanes in Cambridge.

The tidings of Tom's wedding were soon noised
in the court, so that the king sent them a royal in-
vitation to the end that he might see his lady.
They immediately went, and were received with all
demonstrations of joy and triumph, but while they
were in their mirth a dreadful cry approached the
court, which proved to be the commons of Kent who
were come thither to complain of a dreadful giant
that was landed in one of the islands, and brought
with him abundance of bears and young lions, like-
wise a dreadful dragon, on which he himself rode,
which monster and ravenous beasts had frightened
all the inhabitants out of the island. Moreover,
they said, if speedy course was not taken to suppress
them in time, they might overrun the whole island.
The king, hearing this dreadful relation, was a little
startled, yet he persuaded them to return home and
make the best defence they could for themselves at

112 ENGLISH FAIRY TALKS.

present, assuring them that he should not forget
them, and so they departed.

The king, hearing the aforesaid dreadful tidings,
immediately sat in council to consider what was to
be done for the overcoming this monstrous giant,
and barbarous savage lions and beasts, that with
him had invaded his princely territories. At length
it was agreed upon that Thomas Hickathrift was the
most likely man in the whole kingdom for under-
taking of so dangerous an enterprise, he being not
only a fortunate man of great strength, but like-
wise a true and trusty subject, one that was always
ready and willing to do his king and country service.
For which reason it was thought necessary to make
him governor of the aforesaid island, which place of
trust and honour he readily received, and accord-
ingly he forthwith went down with his wife and
family, attended by a hundred knights and gentle-
men, who conducted him to the entrance of the
island which he was to govern. A castle in those
days there was, in which he was to take up his
head- quarters, the same being situated with that
advantage that he could view the island for several
miles upon occasion. The knights and gentlemen,
at last taking their leave of him, wished him all
happy success and prosperity. Many days he had
not been there when it was his fortune to behold
this monstrous giant, mounted upon a dreadful
dragon, bearing upon his shoulder a club of iron,

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHBIFT. 113

having but one eye, the which was placed in his
forehead, and larger in compass than, a barber's
basin, and seemed to appear like a flaming fire.
His visage was dreadful, grim and tawny ; the hair
of his head hanging down his back and shoulders
like snakes of a prodigious length ; the bristles of his
beard being like rusty wire. Lifting up his blare
eye, he happened to discover Sir Thomas Hickathrift,
who was looking upon him from one of his windows
of the castle. The giant then began to knit his
brow and breathe forth threatening words to the
governor, who, indeed, was a little surprised at the
approach of so monstrous a brute. The giant, find-
ing that Tom did not make much haste down to
meet him, alighted from the back of the dragon, and
chained the same to an oak-tree. Then, marching
furiously to the castle, he set his broad shoulder
against a corner of the stone walls, as if he intended
to overthrow the whole building at once, which Tom
perceiving, said —

"Is this the game you would be at? Faith, I
shall spoil your sport, for I have a delicate tool to
pick your teeth withal."

Then, taking his two-handed sword of five foot
long, a weapon which the king had given him to
govern with, — taking this, I say, down he went, and
flinging open the gates, he there found the giant, who,
by an unfortunate slip in his thrusting, was fallen
all along, where he lay and could not help himself.

114 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

" What ! " quoth Tom, " do you come here to take
up your lodging ? This is not to be suffered."

With that he ran his long broad-sword into the
giant's body, which made the monstrous brute give
such a terrible groan that it seemed like roaring
thunder, making the very neighbouring trees to
tremble. Then Torn, pulling out his sword again,
at six or seven blows separated his head from his
unconscionable trunk, which head, when it Avas off,
seemed like the root of a mighty oak. Then turn-
ing to the dragon, which was all this while chained
to a tree, without any further discourse, with four
blows with his two-handed sword, he cut off his
head also. This fortunate adventure being over, he
sent immediately for a team of horses and a wagon,
which he loaded with these heads. Then, summon-
ing all the constables in the country for a guard, he
sent them to the court, with a promise to his majesty
that he would rid the whole island likewise of bears
and lions before he left it. Tom's victories rang so
long that they reached the ears of his old acquaint-
ance the tinker, who, desirous of honour, resolved to
go down and visit Tom in his new government.
Coming there, he met with kind and loving enter-
tainment, for they were very joyful to see one
another. Now, after three or four days' enjoyment
of one another's company, Tom told the tinker that
he must needs go forth in search after wild bears
and lions, in order to rout them out of the island.

A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 115

" Well," quoth the tinker, " I would gladly take
my fortune with you, hoping that I may be service-
able to you upon occasion."

" Well," quoth Tom, " with all my heart, for I
must needs acknowledge I shall be right glad of
your company."

This said, they both went forward, Tom with his
two-handed sword, and the tinker with his long pike-
staff. Now, after they had travelled about four or
five hours, it was their fortune to light on the whole
knot of wild beasts together, of which six of them
were bears, the other eight young lions. Now, when
they had fastened their eyes on Tom and the tinker,
these ravenous beasts began to roar and run furiously,
as if they would have devoured them at a mouthful.
Tom and the tinker stood, side by side, with their
backs against an oak, and as the lions and bears
came within their reach, Tom, with his long sword,
clove their heads asunder till they were all destroyed,
saving one lion who, seeing the rest of his fellows
slain, was endeavouring to escape. Now the tinker,
being somewhat too venturous, ran too hastily after
him, and, having given the lion one blow, he turned
upon him again, seizing him by the throat with that
violence that the poor tinker fell dead to the ground.
Tom Hickathrift, seeing this, gave the lion such a
blow that it ended his life.

Now was his joy mingled with sorrow, for though
he had cleared the island of those ravenous savage

116 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

beasts, yet his grief was intolerable for the loss of
his old friend. Home he returned to his lady,
where, in token of joy for the wonderful success
which he had in his dangerous enterprises, he made
a very noble and splendid feast, to which he invited
most of his best friends and acquaintances, to whom
he made the following promise —

" My friends, while I have strength to stand,

Most manfully I will pursue
All dangers, till I clear this land

Of lions, bears, and tigers too.
This you '11 find true, or I'm to blame,

Let it remain upon record,
Tom Hickathrift's most glorious fame,

Who never yet has broke his word.

The man who does his country bless

Shall merit much from this fair land ;
He who relieved them in distress

His fame upon record shall stand.
And you, my friends, who hear me now,

Let honest Tom for ever dwell
Within your minds and thoughts, I trow,,

Since he has pleased you all so well."

THE SPECTRE COACH.

COBBLERS are a thoughtful race of men, and Tom
Shanks was one of their number. He lived in the
little village of Acton, in Suffolk, and it was there
that an adventure befell him, which, as I am
informed by a grandson of his, " had an effect on
him from that day to this " — though the " this " in
the present case is of a somewhat vague meaning,
seeing that Tom has unfortunately been dead some
twenty years at least. The terrible adventure that
befell him was so mu-ch the subject of Tom's talk,
that if ever tale could be handed down by means of
oral tradition sure Tom's story should be intact in
every detail.

It seems that one day Tom left Acton on a
journey — quite a remarkable event for him, for he
was a quiet-going fellow, not given to running away
from his last, but sitting contentedly in his little
shop, busily employed in providing his neighbours
with good foot-gear. On this day, however, Tom was
called away by the intelligence that a sister of his,
who was in service in a town some little distance
away, was ill and wished to see him. The little

English. I

118 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

cobbler was a man with a warm heart, and as soon
as he received this ill news he laid aside a pair of
shoes he was on for the parson, and which he was
very anxious to finish, for the sooner he touched the
money the better for him and his ; put on his best
coat, took his stick in his hand, and, having bid
farewell to his wife and three little ones, went on
his way, looking back now and then to shake his
stick to them, till he came to the turn in the road
by the side of the high trees when he could see
them no more.

Well, he walked on, and being a stout-hearted
little fellow without much flesh to carry, for cobbling
did not even in those days bring in a fortune, and
Tom and his folk often had hard times of it ; he, in
the course of the morning, with a slice out of the
afternoon, arrived at his destination. There, thank
God, he found his sister much better than he might
have expected, judging from the account he had
heard of her, and having stayed an hour or two to
rest his legs, and recruit his stomach with some
beef and a pint of ale, he set out on his way home-
ward.

The way back seemed much longer than it ought
to have been, and Tom cleared the ground very
slowly. Before he had gone far the night closed in ;
but what was that to him, for he knew every inch
of the road ; and as to thieves, why, he had little
enqtogh in his pocket to tempt them, and if need be — •

THE SPECTRE COACH. 119

and Tom was not for his size deficient in courage —
he had a good stout stick to defend himself with.
Still it was dismal work that tramp through
lonely lanes, with the trees standing on each side —
not bright and lively as they had been in the day-
time, with the sun shining on their leaves, and the
wind rustling amongst them, but drawn up, still and
dark, like sentinels watching in big cloaks. The
day had closed in with clouds, which threatened to
make the cobbler's journey more miserable with a
down-pour of rain. But this fortunately kept off,
and the moon, having risen, looked out now and then
between the clouds, and a star or two winked in a
style which brought comfort to Tom's heart — they
seemed so companionable.

So he went on and on, till at length he came to
the neighbourhood of Acton again ; and glad enough
he was once more to find himself in quarters where
the very trees and gates and stiles seemed, as it were,
to be old friends — Tom having been used to the
sight of them daily for as many years as had passed
since he was born, and those were not a few, for he
was not exactly a chicken.

Well, he came at length to the park gates, and
was hurrying past them, for the spot had no
particularly good name, and he remembered that he
had heard some queer tales concerning sights folk
had chanced to see there which they would very
much sooner have escaped, when on a sudden his

120 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

legs seemed, as it were, to refuse to stir, and with
his heart thumping against his ribs, as if it would
beat a way out for itself, Tom came to a dead
stand. What was it that he heard? It seemed
like a rushing and grinding of stones, with a
cracking like a body of men walking over dry sticks.
It could not be the wind, for there was not a breath
stirring, and the leaves on the trees lay perfectly
still. The noise came nearer and nearer, and the
next thought of Tom was that he would like to hide
himself in some of the dark shadows around him.
But his legs would not stir, and it was as much as
he could do, with the aid of his stick, to hold him-
self up on them. To make matters worse, the
moon now, just as the cobbler was wishing for
darkness, broke out from a cloud, and cast its light
all about him, as if with the very object of showing
him up. It is true the light enabled him to have a
good look about him, but that was not a thing Tom
very much cared about just then.

He stood there a few moments, with the sound
coming louder and louder, till it seemed to be just
at hand. It was evidently in the park itself. Now
it was at the gate. Then, all of a sudden, the gates
swung back with a terrible clang, and there issued as
strange a procession as Tom's, or indeed mortal's,
eyes ever set on. First there came two grooms on
horses, and then a carriage drawn by four large
steeds, while two men rode behind. They were

A STRANGE PROCKSSION*.

THE SPECTRE COACH. 121

all goodly looking men enough, and the horses were,
as Tom saw at a glance, as pretty pieces of flesh as
any man might wish to throw leg across, but one
thing struck horror to the cobbler's heart as he
looked, for he saw that none of the horsemen had a
head on him. On they dashed at a break-neck
speed, their horses' hoofs seeming to dash fire from
the stones on the road, while the wheels of the
coach looked like four bright circles, so fast was it
drawn over the ground. Cracking their whips, as if
to urge the steeds on to even greater speed, the men
rode on, nor did Tom hear them utter a word as
they swept past him.

As the coach went by him, and his eyes were
glued upon it, the interior of the carriage seemed to
him to be lighted up in some mysterious manner,
and inside, Tom said, he clearly saw a gentleman
and a lady, for such they evidently were by their
dress, sitting side by side, but without heads like
their attendants.

Another minute and all was gone. Tom rubbed
his eyes and wondered if he had not been asleep,
but who ever heard of a man falling asleep standing
up with no better prop than a stick in his hand 1
He looked at the gates. They were closed and fast.
He looked down the road, but could distinguish
nothing. In the distance, however, he could hear
the sound of, as it were, a big gust of wind gradually
travelling away, while all around him was still.

122 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

It did not take him long to get home after that,
you may be sure, and when he told his story,
though there were some that laughed and hinted
that Tom was trying to make a hero of himself by
pretending that he had seen what no one else of
those he told the story to had set eyes on, yet
the old folk remembered that they themselves had
spoken with folk who had seen the very same sight
for themselves, so I think that Tom Shanks has the
very best claim to be considered the last man in the
place who ever witnessed the progress of the spectre
coach.

THE BAKER'S DAUGHTER.

A VERY long time ago, I cannot tell you when, it is
so long since, there lived in a town in Herefordshire
a baker who used to sell bread to all the folk
around. He was a mean, greedy man, who sought
in every way to put money by, and who did not
scruple to cheat such people as he was able when
they came to his shop.

He had a daughter who helped him in his business,
being unmarried and living with him, and seeing
how her father treated the people, and how he suc-
ceeded in getting money by his bad practices, she,
too, in time came to do the like.

One day when her father was away, and the girl
remained alone in the shop, an old woman came
in —

"My pretty girl," said she, "give me a bit of
dough I beg of you, for I am old and hungry."

The girl at first told her to be off, but as the old
would not go, and begged harder than

before for a piece of bread, at last the baker's
daughter took up a piece of dough, and giving it to
her, says —

123

124 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

" There now, be off, and do not trouble me any
more."

" My dear," says the woman, " you have given me
a piece of dough, let me bake it in your oven, for I
have no place of my own to bake it in."

"Very well," replied the girl, and, taking the
dough, she placed it in the oven, while the old woman
sat down to wait till it was baked.

When the girl thought the bread should be ready
she looked in the oven expecting to find there a
small cake, and was very much amazed to find
instead a very large loaf of bread. She pretended
to look about the oven as if in search of something.

"I cannot find the cake," said she. "It must
have tumbled into the fire and got burnt."

"Very well," said the old woman, "give me
another piece of dough instead and I will wait
while it bakes."

So the girl took another piece of dough, smaller
than the first piece, and having put it in the oven,
shut to the door. At the end of a few minutes or so
she looked in again, and found there another loaf,
larger than the last.

" Dear me," said she, pretending to look about
her, " I have surely lost the dough again. There 's
no cake here."

"'Tis a pity," said the old woman, "but never
mind. I will wait while you bake me another
piece."

THE OLD WOMAX SAT UU\\X

THE BAKER'S DAUGHTER. 125

So the baker's daughter took a piece of dough as
small as one of her fingers and put it in the oven,
while the old woman sat near. When she thought
it ought to be baked, she looked into the oven and
there saw a loaf, larger than either of the others.

" That is mine," said the old woman.

" No," replied the girl. " How could such a large
loaf have grown out of a little piece of dough 1 "

" It is mine, it is sure," said the woman.

"It is not," said the girl, "and you shall not
have it."

Well, when the old woman saw that the girl
would not give her the loaf, and saw how she had
tried to cheat her, for she was a fairy, and knew all
the tricks that the baker's daughter had put upon
her, she draws out from under her cloak a stick,
and just touches the girl with it. Then a wonderful
thing occurred, for the girl became all of a sudden
changed into an owl, and flying about the room, at
last, made for the door, and, finding it open, she flew
out and was never seen again.

THE FAIRY CHILDREN.

" ANOTHER wonderful thing," says Ralph of Cogge-
shall, "happened in Suffolk, at St. Mary's of the
Wolf-pits.

A boy and his sister were found by the inhabit-
ants of that place near the mouth of a pit which is
there, who had the form of all their limbs like to
those of other men, but they were different in the
colour of their skin from all the people of our
habitable world, for the whole surface of their skin
was tinged of a green colour. No one could under-
stand their speech.

When they were brought as curiosities to the
house of a certain knight, Sir Richard de Calne, at
Wikes, they wept bitterly. Bread and victuals were
set before them, but they would touch none of them,
though they were tormented by great hunger, as the
girl afterwards acknowledged. At length when
some beans, just cut, with their stalks, were brought
into the house, they made signs, with great avidity,
that they should be given to them. When they
were brought they opened the stalks instead of the
pods, thinking the beans were in the hollow of them.

126

THE FAIRY CHILDREN. 127

But not finding them there, they began to weep
anew. When those who were present saw this, they
opened the pods, and showed them the naked beans.
They fed on these with great delight, and for a long
time tasted no other food. The boy, however, was
always languid and depressed, and he died within a
short time.

The girl enjoyed continual good health, and, be-
coming accustomed to various kinds of food, lost
completely that green colour, and gradually recovered
the sanguine habit of her entire body. She was
afterwards regenerated by the laver of holy baptism,
and lived for many years in the service of that
knight, as I have frequently heard from him and his
family.

Being frequently asked about the people of her
country, she asserted that the inhabitants, and all
they had in that country, were of a green colour,
and that they saw no sun, but enjoyed a degree of
light like what is after sunset. Being asked how
she came into this country with the aforesaid boy,
she replied, that, as they were following their flocks,
they came to a certain cavern, on entering which
they heard a delightful sound of bells, ravished by
whose sweetness they went on for a long time
wandering on through the cavern, until they came
to its mouth. When they came out of it, they were
struck senseless by the excessive light of the sun,
and the unusual temperature of the air, and they

128 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

thus lay for a long time. Being terrified by the
noise of those who came on them, they wished to
fly, but they could not find the entrance of the
cavern before they were caught."

This story is also told by William of Newbury,
who places it in the reign of King Stephen. He
says he long hesitated to believe it, but was at
length overcome by the weight of evidence. Ac-
cording to him, the place where the children
appeared, was about four or five miles from Bury-
St.-Edmund's. They came in harvest-time out of
the Wolf-pits. They both lost their green hue, and
were baptized, and learned English. The boy, who
was the younger, died, but the girl married a man
at Lenna, and lived many years. They said their
country was called St. Martin's Land, as that saint
was chiefly worshipped there ; that the people were
Christians, and had churches ; that the sun did not
rise there, but that there was a bright country which
could be seen from theirs, being divided from it by
a very broad river.

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE
BEANSTALK.

[From a Chap-book printed at Paisley, by G-. Caldwell,
bookseller. Probable date, 1810.]

IN the days of King Alfred there lived a poor
woman whose cottage was situated in a remote
country village, a great many miles from London.

She had been a widow some years, and had an
only child named Jack, whom she indulged to a
fault. The consequence of her blind partiality was,
that Jack did not pay the least attention to any-
thing she said, but was indolent, careless, and ex-
travagant. His follies were not owing to a bad
disposition, but that his mother had never checked
him. By degrees she disposed of all she possessed
— scarcely anything remained but a cow.

The poor woman one day met Jack with tears in
her eyes. Her distress was great, and, for the first
time in her life, she could not help reproaching him,
saying —

" 0 you wicked child ! by your ungrateful
course of life you have at last brought me to
beggary and ruin. Cruel, cruel boy ! I have not

English. K

130 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

money enough to purchase even a bit of bread for
another day. Nothing now remains to sell but my
poor cow. I am sorry to part with her. It grieves
me sadly, but we must not starve."

For a few minutes Jack felt a degree of remorse,
but it was soon over, and he began teasing his
mother to let him sell the cow at the next village
so much, that she at last consented.

As he was going along he met a butcher, who
inquired why he was driving the cow from home.
Jack replied he was going to sell it. The butcher
held some curious beans in his hat that were of
various colours and attracted Jack's notice. This
did not pass unnoticed by the butcher, who, know-
ing Jack's easy temper, thought now was the time
to take advantage of it, and, determined not to let
slip so good an opportunity, asked what was the
price of the cow, offering at the same time all the
beans in his hat for her. The silly boy could not
conceal the pleasure he felt at what he supposed so
great an offer. The bargain was struck instantly,
and the cow exchanged for a few paltry beans.
Jack made the best of his way home, calling aloud
to his mother before he reached the house, thinking
to surprise her.

When she saw the beans and heard Jack's account,
her patience quite forsook her. She kicked the
beans away in a passion — they flew in all directions
— some were scattered in the garden. Not having

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 131

anything to eat, they both went supperless to
bed.

Jack awoke very early in the morning, and see-
ing something uncommon from the window of his
bed-chamber, ran downstairs into the garden, where
he soon discovered that some of the beans had taken
root and sprung up surprisingly. The stalks were of
an immense thickness, and had so entwined that they
formed a ladder nearly like a chain in appearance.

Looking upwards, he could not discern the top.
It appeared to be lost in the clouds. He tried the
stalk, found it firm, and not to be shaken. He
quickly formed the resolution of endeavouring to
climb up to the top in order to seek his fortune,
and ran to communicate his intention to his mother,
not doubting but she would be equally pleased with
himself. She declared he should not go ; said it
would break her heart if he did; entreated and
threatened, but all in vain.

Jack set out, and, after climbing for some hours,
reached the top of the beanstalk, fatigued and quite
exhausted. Looking around, he found himself in a
strange country. It appeared to be a desert, quite
barren, not a tree, shrub, house, or living creature
to be seen. Here and there were scattered frag-
ments of stone, and at unequal distances small heaps
of earth were loosely thrown together.

Jack seated himself, pensively, upon a block of
stone, and thought of his mother. He reflected

132 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

with sorrow on his disobedience in climbing the
beanstalk against her will, and concluded that he
must die of hunger.

However, he walked on, hoping to see a house
where he might beg something to eat and drink.
Presently a handsome young woman appeared at a
distance. As she approached Jack could not help
admiring how beautiful and lively she looked. She
was dressed in the most elegant manner, and had a
small white wand in her hand, on the top of which
was a peacock of pure gold.

While Jack was looking, with the greatest sur-
prise, at this charming female, she came up to him,
and, with a smile of the most bewitching sweetness,
inquired how he came there. Jack related the
circumstance of the beanstalk. She asked him if
he recollected his father. He replied he did not,
and added there must be some mystery relating
to him, because if he asked his mother who his
father was she always burst into tears and appeared
to be violently agitated, nor did she recover her-
self for some days after. One thing, however, he
could not avoid observing on these occasions, which
was, that she always carefully avoided answering
him, and even seemed afraid of speaking, as if
there were some secret connected with his father's
history which she must not disclose.

The young woman replied —

"I will reveal the whole story. Your mother

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 133

must not do so. But before I begin I require a
solemn promise on your part to do what I com-
mand. I am a fairy, and, if you do not perform
exactly what I desire, you will be destroyed."

Jack was frightened at her menaces, and promised
to fulfil her injunctions exactly, and the fairy thus
addressed him —

" Your father was a rich man. His disposition
was very benevolent. He was very good to the
poor, and constantly relieved them. He made it a
rule never to let a day pass without doing good to
some person. On one particular day in the week
he kept open house, and invited only those who
were reduced and had lived well. He always pre-
sided himself, and did all in his power to render
his guests comfortable. The rich and the great
were next invited. The servants were all happy
and greatly attached to their master and mistress.
Your father, though only a private gentleman, was
as rich as a prince, and he deserved all he possessed,
for he only lived to do good. Such a man was
soon known and talked of. A giant lived a great
many miles off. This man was altogether as wicked
as your father was good. He was, in his heart,
envious, covetous, and cruel, but he had the art of
concealing those vices. He was poor, and wished
to enrich himself at any rate.

" Hearing your father spoken of, he formed the
design of becoming acquainted with him, hoping to

1 34 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

ingratiate himself into your father's favour. He
removed quickly into your neighbourhood, and
caused it to be reported that he was a gentleman
who had just lost all he possessed by an earthquake
and had found it difficult to escape with his life.
His wife was with him. Your father gave credit
to his story and pitied him. He gave him hand-
some apartments in his own house, and caused him
and his wife to be treated like visitors of con-
sequence, little imagining that the giant was under-
taking a horrid return for all his favours.

"Things went on this way for some time, the
giant becoming daily more impatient to put his plan
in execution. At last a favourable opportunity
presented itself. Your father's house was at some
distance from the sea-shore, but with a glass the
coast could be seen distinctly. The giant was one
day using the telescope ; the wind was very high,
and he saw a fleet of ships in distress off the rocks.
He hastened to your father, mentioned the circum-
stance, and eagerly requested he would send all the
servants he could spare to relieve the sufferers.

" Every one was instantly despatched, except the
porter and your nurse. The giant then joined
your father in the study, and appeared to be de-
lighted. He really was so. Your father recom-
mended a favourite book, and was handing it down,
when the giant, taking the opportunity, stabbed
him, and he instantly fell down dead. The giant

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 1 35

left the body, found the porter and nurse, and
presently despatched them, being determined to
have no living witnesses of his crimes.

"You were then only three months old. Your
mother had you in her arms in a remote part of the
house, and was ignorant of what was going on.
She went into the study, but how was she shocked
on discovering your father dead. She was stupefied
with horror and grief, and was motionless. The
giant, who was seeking her, found her in that state,
and hastened to serve her and you as he had done
your father, but she fell at his feet, and, in a
pathetic manner, besought him to spare her life
and yours.

" Kemorse, for a moment, seemed to touch the
barbarian's heart. He granted your lives, but first
he made her take a most solemn oath never to inform
you who your father was, or to answer any questions
concerning him, assuring her that if she did he
would certainly discover her and put both of you to
death in the most cruel manner. Your mother took
you in her arms and fled as quickly as possible.
She was scarcely gone when the giant repented he
had suffered her to escape. He would have pursued
her instantly, but he had to provide for his own
safety, as it was necessary he should be gone before
the servants returned. Having gained your father's
confidence he knew where to find all his treasure.
He soon loaded himself and his wife, set the house

136 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

on fire in several places, and, when the servants
returned, the house was burnt quite down to the
ground.

" Your poor mother, forlorn, abandoned, and for-
saken, wandered with you a great many miles from
this scene of desolation. Fear added to her haste.
She settled in the cottage where you were brought
up, and it was entirely owing to her fear of the
giant that she never mentioned your father to you.

" I became your father's guardian at his birth, but
fairies have laws to which they are subject as well
as mortals. A short time before the giant went to
your father's I transgressed. My punishment was a
suspension of power for a limited time — an unfor-
tunate circumstance — for it totally prevented my
succouring your father.

" The day on which you met the butcher, as you
went to sell your mother's cow, my power was re-
stored. It was I who secretly prompted you to take
the beans in exchange for the cow.

" By my power the beanstalk grew to so great a
height and formed a ladder. I need not add I in-
spired you with a strong desire to ascend the ladder.

" The giant lives in this country, and you are the
person appointed to punish him for all his wicked-
ness. You will have dangers and difficulties to
encounter, but you must persevere in avenging the
death of your father, or you will not prosper in any
of your undertakings, but be always miserable.

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 137

" As to the giant's possessions, you may seize on
all you can, for everything he has is yours though
now you are unjustly deprived of it. One thing I
desire. Do not let your mother know you are
acquainted with your father's history till you see me
again.

" Go along the direct road, and you will soon see
the house where your cruel enemy lives. While
you do as I order you I will protect and guard you,
but, remember, if you dare disobey my commands, a
most dreadful punishment awaits you."

When the fairy had concluded, she disappeared
leaving Jack to pursue his journey. He walked on
till after sunset when, to his great joy, he espied a
large mansion. This agreeable sight revived his
drooping spirits, and he redoubled his speed, and
soon reached the house. A plain-looking woman
was at the door, and Jack accosted her, begging she
would give him a morsel of bread and a night's
lodging.

She expressed the greatest surprise at seeing him,
and said it was quite uncommon to see a human
being near their house, for it was well known her
husband was a large and very powerful giant, and
that he would never eat anything but human flesh,
if he could possibly get it ; that he did not think
anything of walking fifty miles to procure it, usually
being out the whole day for that purpose.

This account greatly terrified Jack, but still he

138 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

hoped to elude the giant, and therefore he again
entreated the woman to take him in for one night
only, and hide him where she thought proper. The
good woman at last suffered herself to be persuaded,
for she was of a compassionate and generous dis-
position, and took him into the house.

First they entered a fine large hall, magnificently
furnished. They then passed through several
spacious rooms, all in the same style of grandeur,
but they appeared to be quite forsaken and deso-
late.

A long gallery was next. It was very dark, with
just light enough to show that, instead of a wall, on
one side there was a grating of iron which parted
off a dismal dungeon, from whence issued the groans
of those poor victims whom the cruel giant reserved
in confinement for his own voracious appetite.

Poor Jack was half dead with fear, and would
have given the world to have been with his mother
again, for he now began to fear that he should never
see her more, and gave himself up for lost. He
even mistrusted the good woman, and thought she
had let him into the house for no other purpose
than to lock him up among the unfortunate people
in the dungeon.

At the further end of the gallery there was a
spacious kitchen, and a very excellent fire was burn-
ing in the grate. The good woman bade Jack sit
down, and gave him plenty to eat and drink. Jack,

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 139

not seeing anything here to make him uncomfort-
able, soon forgot his fear, and was just beginning
to enjoy himself when he was aroused by a loud
knocking at the street-door, which made the whole
house shake. The giant's wife ran to secure Jack
in the oven and then went to let her husband in.

Jack heard him accost her in a voice like thunder,
saying —

" Wife, I smell fresh meat."

" Oh, my dear," replied she, " it is nothing but
the people in the dungeon."

The giant appeared to believe her, and walked
into the very kitchen where poor Jack was concealed,
who shook, trembled, and was more terrified than he
had yet been.

At last the monster seated himself quietly by the
fireside, whilst his wife prepared supper. By degrees
Jack recovered himself sufficiently to look at the
giant through a small crevice. He was quite
astonished to see what an amazing quantity he
devoured, and thought he would never have done
eating and drinking. When supper was ended the
giant desired his wife to bring him his hen. A
very beautiful hen was brought and placed on the
table before him. Jack's curiosity was very great
to see what would happen. He observed that every
time the giant said " Lay," the hen laid an egg of
solid gold.

The giant amused himself a long while with his

140 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

hen, and meanwhile his wife went to bed. At
length the giant fell asleep by the fireside and snored
like the roaring of a cannon. At daybreak Jack,
finding the giant still asleep, and not likely to awaken
soon, crept softly out of his hiding-place, seized the
hen, and ran ofl' with her.

He met with some difficulty in finding his way
out of the house, but, at last, he reached the road in
safety. He easily found his way to the beanstalk
and descended it better and quicker than he had ex-
pected. His mother was overjoyed to see him. He
found her crying bitterly, and lamenting his hard
fate, for she concluded he had come to some shock-
ing end through his rashness.

Jack was impatient to show his hen, and inform
his mother how valuable it was.

" And now, mother," said Jack, " I have brought
home that which will make us rich, and I hope to
make some amends for the affliction I have caused
you through my idleness, extravagance, and folly."

The hen produced as many golden eggs as they
desired, which Jack and his mother sold, and so in
a little time became possessed of as much riches as
they wanted.

For some months Jack and his mother lived very
happily together, but he, being very desirous of
travelling, recollecting the fairy's commands, and
fearing that if he delayed she would put her threats
into execution, longed to climb the beanstalk and

JACK SEIZED THE HEN.

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 141

pay the giant another visit, in order to carry away
some more of his treasure, for, during the time that
Jack was in the giant's mansion, while he lay con-
cealed in the oven, he learned, from the conversation
that took place between the giant and his wife,
that he possessed some wonderful curiosities. Jack
thought of his journey again and again, but still he
could not summon resolution enough to break it to
his mother, being well assured she would endeavour
to prevent his going. However, one day he told
her boldly that he must take a journey up the bean-
stalk. His mother begged and prayed him not to
think of it, and tried all in her power to dissuade
him. She told him that the giant's wife would
certainly know him again, and the giant would
desire nothing better than to get him into his power,
that he might put him to a cruel death in order to
be revenged for the loss of his hen.

Jack, finding that all his arguments were useless,
pretended to give up the point, though he was
resolved to go at all events. He had a dress pre-
pared which would disguise him, and something to
colour his skin, and he thought it impossible for
any one to recollect him in this dress.

In a few mornings after this, he rose very early,
changed his complexion, and, unperceived by any
one, climbed the beanstalk a second time. He was
greatly fatigued when he reached the top, and very
hungry.

142 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

Having rested some time on on of the stones, he
pursued his journey to the giant's mansion. He
reached it late in the evening, and found the woman
at the door as before. Jack addressed her, at the
same time telling her a pitiful tale, and requesting
she would give him some victuals and drink, and
also a night's lodging.

She told him (what he knew very well before)
about her husband's being a powerful and cruel
giant and also how she one night admitted a poor,
hungry, friendless boy, who was half dead with
travelling, and that the ungrateful fellow had stolen
one of the giant's treasures, ever since which her
husband had been worse than before, had used her
very cruelly, and continually upbraided her with
being the cause of his loss.

Jack was at no loss to discover that he was
attending to the account of a story in which he was
the principal actor. He did his best to persuade
the old woman to admit him, but found it a very
hard task.

At last she consented, and as she led the way
Jack observed that everything was just as he had
found it before. She took him into the kitchen, and
after he had done eating and drinking, she hid him
in an old lumber closet. The giant returned at the
usual time, and walked in so heavily that the house
was shaken to the foundation. He seated himself
by the fire, and, soon after, exclaimed —

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 143

"Wife, I smell fresh meat."

The wife replied it was the crows, which had
brought a piece of raw meat and left it on the top
of the house.

Whilst supper was preparing, the giant was very
ill-tempered and impatient, frequently lifting up his
hand to strike his wife for not being quick enough,
but she was always so fortunate as to elude the
blow. The giant was also continually upbraiding
her with the loss of his wonderful hen.

The giant's wife, having set supper on the table,
went to another apartment and brought from it a
huge pie which she also placed before him.

When he had ended his plentiful supper and eaten
till he was quite satisfied, he said to his wife —

" I must have something to amuse me, either my
bags of money or my harp."

After a good deal of ill-humour, and after having
teased his wife for some time, he commanded her to
bring down his bags of gold and silver. Jack, as
before, peeped out of his hiding place, and presently
the wife brought two bags into the room. They
were of a very large size. One was filled with new
guineas, and the other with new shillings. They
were placed before the giant, who began reprimand-
ing his poor wife most severely for staying so long.
She replied, trembling with fear, that they were so
heavy she could scarcely lift them, and concluded by
saying she would never again bring them downstairs,

English. L

144 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

adding that she had nearly fainted owing to their
weight.

This so exasperated the giant that he raised his
hand to strike her, but she escaped and went to bed,
leaving him to count over his treasure by way of
amusement.

The giant took his bags, and after turning them
over and over to see they were in the same state
he had left them, began to count their contents.
First the bag which contained the silver was emptied,
and the contents placed upon the table. Jack viewed
the glittering heaps with delight, and most heartily
wished them in his own possession. The giant (little
thinking he was so narrowly watched) reckoned the
silver over several times, and then, having satisfied
himself that all was safe, put it into the bags again,
which he made very secure.

The other bag was opened next, and the guineas
placed upon the table. If Jack was pleased at the
sight of the silver, how much more delighted must
he have felt when he saw such a heap of glittering
gold 1 He even had the boldness to think of gaining
both bags, but, suddenly recollecting himself, he
began to fear that the giant would sham sleep, the
better to entrap any one who might be concealed.

When the giant had counted over the gold till he
was tired, he put it up, if possible more secure than
he had put up the silver before, and he then fell
back on his chair by the fireside and fell asleep.

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 1 45

He snored so loud that Jack compared his noise to
the roaring of the sea in a high wind, when the tide is
coming in. At last Jack concluded him to be asleep
and therefore secure. He stole out of his hiding-
place and approached the giant, in order to carry off
the two bags of money. Just as he laid his hand
upon one of the bags a little dog, which he had not
observed before, started from under the giant's chair
and barked at Jack most furiously, who now gave
himself up for lost. Fear rivetted him to the spot,
and instead of endeavouring to escape he stood still,
though expecting his enemy to awake every instant.
Contrary, however, to his expectation the giant con-
tinued in a sound sleep, and the dog grew weary of
barking. Jack now began to recollect himself, and,
on looking around, saw a large piece of meat. This
he threw to the dog, who instantly seized it, and
took it into the lumber-closet which Jack had just
left.

Finding himself delivered from a noisy and
troublesome enemy, and seeing the giant did not
awake, Jack boldly seized the bags, and, throwing
them over his shoulders, ran out of the kitchen.
He reached the street-door in safety, and found it
quite daylight. On his way to the top of the bean-
stalk he found himself greatly incommoded with the
weight of the money bags, and, really, they were so
heavy he could scarcely carry them.

Jack was overjoyed when he found himself near

146 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

the beanstalk. He soon reached the bottom and
ran to meet his mother. To his great surprise the
cottage was deserted. He ran from one room to
another without being able to find any one. He
then hastened into the village, hoping to see some
of his neighbours, who could inform him where he
could find her.

An old woman at last directed him to a neigh-
bouring house, where his mother was ill of a fever.
He was greatly shocked on finding her apparently
dying, and could scarcely bear his own reflections
on knowing himself to be the cause of it.

On being informed of our hero's safe return, his
mother, by degrees, revived, and gradually recovered.
Jack presented her his two valuable bags, and they
lived happy and comfortably. The cottage was
rebuilt and well furnished.

For three years Jack heard no more of the bean-
stalk, but he could not forget it, though he feared
making his mother unhappy. She would not mention
the hated beanstalk, lest her doing so should remind
him of taking another journey.

Notwithstanding the comforts Jack enjoyed at
home, his mind continually dwelt upon the beau-
stalk, for the fairy's menaces in case of his dis-
obedience were ever present to his mind and pre-
vented him from being happy. He could think of
nothing else. It was in vain he endeavoured to
amuse himself. He became thoughtful, would arise

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 147

at the first dawn of day, and would view the bean-
stalk for hours together.

His mother discovered that something preyed
heavily upon his mind, and endeavoured to discover
the cause, but Jack knew too well what the con-
sequence would be should he discover the cause of
his melancholy to her. He did his utmost, therefore,
to conquer the great desire he had for another
journey up the beanstalk. Finding, however, that
his inclination grew too powerful for him, he began
to make secret preparations for his journey, and, on
the longest day, arose as soon as it was light, as-
cended the beanstalk, and reached the top with some
little trouble. He found the road, journey, etc.,
much as it was on the two former times. He
arrived at the giant's mansion in the evening, and
found his wife standing, as usual, at the door.
Jack had disguised himself so completely that she
did not appear to have the least recollection of him.
However, when he pleaded hunger and poverty in
order to gain admittance, he found it very difficult,
indeed, to persuade her. At last he prevailed, and
was concealed in the copper.

When the giant returned, he said —

" I smell fresh meat," but Jack felt composed, for
the giant had said so before, and had been soon
satisfied ; however, the giant started up suddenly and
searched all round the room. Whilst this was
going forward Jack was exceedingly terrified, and

H8 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

ready to die with fear, wishing himself at home a
thousand times, but when the giant approached the
copper, and put his hand upon the lid, Jack thought
his death was certain. The giant ended his search
there without moving the lid, and seated himself
quietly by the fireside.

The giant at last ate a hearty supper, and when
he had finished, he commanded his wife to fetch
down his harp. Jack peeped under the copper lid
and soon saw the most beautiful harp that could be
imagined. It was placed by the giant on the table,
who said —

" Play," and it instantly played of its own accord,
without being touched. The music was uncommonly
fine. Jack was delighted, and felt more anxious to
get the harp into his possession than either of the
former treasures.

The giant's soul was not attuned to harmony, and
the music soon lulled him into a sound sleep. Now,
therefore, was the time to carry off the harp. As
the giant appeared to be in a more profound sleep
than usual, Jack, soon determined, got out of the
copper and seized the harp. The harp, however,
was enchanted by a fairy, and it called out loudly —

" Master, master ! "

The giant awoke, stood up, and tried to pursue
Jack, but he had drunk so much that he could
hardly stand. Poor Jack ran as fast as he could,
and, in a little time, the giant recovered sufficiently

THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 149

to walk slowly, or rather, to reel after him. Had
he been sober he must have overtaken Jack instantly,
but as he then was, Jack contrived to be first at the
top of the beanstalk. The giant called after him in
a voice like thunder, and sometimes was very near
him.

The moment Jack got down the beanstalk he
called out for a hatchet, and one was brought him
directly. Just at that instant the giant was
beginning to descend, but Jack with his hatchet cut
the beanstalk close off at the root, which made the
giant fall headlong into the garden. The fall killed
him, thereby releasing the world from a barbarous
enemy.

Jack's mother was delighted when she saw the
beanstalk destroyed. At this instant the fairy
appeared. She first addressed Jack's mother, and
explained every circumstance relating to the journeys
up the beanstalk. The fairy then charged Jack to
be dutiful to his mother, and to follow his father's
good example, which was the only way to be happy.
She then disappeared. Jack heartily begged his
mother's pardon for all the sorrow and affliction he
had caused her, promising most faithfully to be very
dutiful and obedient to her for the future.

JOHNNY REED'S CAT.

"¥ES, cats are queer folk, sure enough, and often
know more than a simple beast ought to by know-
ledge that's rightly come by. There's that cat
there, you 've been looking at, will stand at a door
on its hind legs with its front paws on the handle
trying like a Christian to open the door, and
mewling in a manner that's almost like talking.
He 's a London cat, he is, being brought me by a
cousin who lives there, and is called Gilpin, after,
I'm told, a mayor who was christened the same.
He 's a knowing cat, sure enough ; but it 's not the
London cats that are cleverer than the country
ones. Who knows, he may be a relative of Johnny
Reed's own tom-cat himself."

" And who was Johnny Reed ? and what was
there remarkable about his cat ? "

"Have you never heard tell of Johnny Reed's
cat] It's an old tale they have in the north
country, and it 's true enough, though folk may not
believe it in these days when the Bible 's not gospel
enough for some of them. I've heard my father
often tell the story, and he came from Newcastle

150

JOHNNY REED'S CAT. 151

way, which is the very part where Johnny Reed
used to live, being a parish sexton in a village not far
away.

"Well, Johnny Reed was the sexton, as I've
already said, and he and his wife kept a cat, a well
enough behaved creature, sure enough, and a beast
as he had no fault to set on, saving a few of the
tricks which all cats play at times, and which seem
born in the blood of the creatures. It was all black
except one white paw, and seemed as honest and
decent a beast as could be, and Tom would as soon
have suspected it of being any more than it really
seemed to be as he would one of his own children
themselves, like many other folk, perhaps, who, may
be, have cats of the same kind, little thinking it.

"Well, the cat had been with him some years
when a strange thing occurred.

" One night Johnny was going home late from
the churchyard, where he had been digging a grave
for a person who had died on a sudden, throwing
the grave on Johnny's hands unexpectedly, so that
he had to stop working at it by the light of a
lantern to have it ready for the next day's burying.
Well, having finished his work, and having put his
tools in the shed in a corner of the yard, and having
locked them up safe, he began to walk home pretty
brisk, thinking would his wife be up and have a bit
of fire for him, for the night was cold, a keen wind
blowing over the fields.

152 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

" He hadn't gone far before he comes to a gate at
the roadside, and there seemed to be a strange
shadow about it, in which Johnny saw, as it might be,
a lot of little gleaming fires dancing about, while
some stood steady, just like flashes of light from
little windows in buildings all on fire inside. Says
Johnny to himself, for he was not a man to be easily
frightened, being accustomed by his calling to face
things which might upset other folk —

"'Hullo! What's here? Here's a thing I
never saw before,' and with that he walks straight
up to the gate, while the shadow got deeper and the
fires brighter the nearer he came to it.

" Well, when he came right up to the gate he
finds that the shadow was just none at all, but nine
black cats, some sitting and some dancing about,
and the lights were the flashes from their eyes.
When he came nearer he thought to scare them off,
and he calls out —

" ' Sh — sh — sh,' but never a cat stirs for all
of it.

"'I'll soon scatter you, you ugly varmin,' says
Johnny, looking about him for a stone, which was
not to be found, the night being dark and prevent-
ing him seeing one. Just then he hears a voice
calling —

"'Johnny Keed ! '

" ' Hullo ! ' says he, ' who 's that wants me ? '

" ' Johnny Reed,' says the voice again,

JOHNNY REED'S CAT. 153

" ' Well,' says Johnny, ' I 'm here,' and looking
round and seeing no one, for no one was about 'tis
true. ' Was it one of you,' says he, joking like, to the
cats, ' as was calling me ? '

" ' Yes, of course,' answers one of them, as plain as
ever Christian spoke. ' It 's me as has called you
these three times.'

" Well, with that, you may be sure, Johnny begins
to feel curious, for 'twas the first time he had ever
been spoken to by a cat, and he didn't know what
it might lead to exactly. So he takes off his hat
to the cat, thinking that it was, perhaps, best to
show it respect, and, seeing that he was unable to
guess with whom he was dealing, hoping to come off
all the better for a little civility.

" ' Well, sir,' says he, ' what can I do for you ?'

" ' It 's not much as I want with you,' says the cat,
' but it 's better it '11 be with you if you do what I
tell you. Tell Dan Ratcliffe that Peggy Poyson's
dead.'

" ' I will, sir,' says Johnny, wondering at the same
time how he was to do it, for who Dan Ratcliffe was
he knew no more than the dead. Well, with that
all the cats vanished, and Johnny, running the rest
of the way home, rushes into his house, smoking hot
from the fright and the distance he had to go over.

" ' Nan,' says he to his wife, the first words he
spoke, ' who 's Dan Katcliffe?'

" ' Dan Ratcliffe,' says she. ' I never heard of him,

154 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

and don't know there 's any one such living about
here.'

" ' No more do I,' says he, ' but I must find him
wherever he is.'

" Then he tells his wife all about how he had met
the cats, and how they had stopped him and given
him the message. Well, his cat sits there in front
of the fire looking as snug arid comfortable as a cat
could be, and nearly half-asle'ep, but when Johnny
comes to telling his wife the message the cats had
given him, then it jumped up on its fe"et, and looks
at Johnny, and says —

" ' What ! is Peggy Poyson dead ] Then it 's no
time for me to be here ; ' and with that it springs
through the door and vanishes, nor was ever seen
again from that day to this."

" And did the sexton ever find Dan Ratcliffe," I
asked.

" Never. He searched high and low for him
about, but no one could tell him of such a person,
though Johnny looked long enough, thinking it
might be the worse for him if he didn't do his best
to please the cats. At last, however, he gave the
matter up."

" Then, what was the meaning of the cat's mes-
sage?"

" It 's hard to tell ; but many folk thought, and
I 'm inclined to agree with them, that Dan Ratcliffe
was Johnny's own cat, and no one else, looking at

JOHNNY REED'S CAT. 155

the way he acted, and no other of the name being
known. Who Peggy Poyson was no one could tell,
but likely enough it was some relative of the cat, or
may be some one it was interested in, for it 's little
we know concerning the creatures and their ways,
and with whom and what they 're mixed up."

LAME MOLLY.

Two Devonshire serving-maids declared, as an ex-
cuse perhaps for spending more money than they
ought upon finery, that the pixies were very kind to
them, and would often drop silver for their pleasure
into a bucket of fair water, which they placed for
the accommodation of those little beings every night
in the chimney-corner before they went to bed.
Once, however, it was forgotten; and the pixies,
finding themselves disappointed by an empty bucket,
whisked up-stairs to the maids' bedroom, popped
through the keyhole, and began, in a very audible
tone, to exclaim against the laziness and neglect of
the damsels.

One of them, who lay awake and heard all this,
jogged her fellow-servant, and proposed getting up
immediately to repair the fault of omission ; but the
lazy girl, who liked not being disturbed out of a
comfortable nap, pettishly declared " That, for her
part, she would not stir out of bed to please all the
pixies in Devonshire." The good-humoured damsel,
however, got up, filled the bucket, and was rewarded
by a handful of silver pennies found in it the next

166

LAME MOLLY. 157

morning. But, ere that time had arrived, what was
her alarm, as she crept towards the bed, to hear all
the elves in high and stern debate consulting as to
what punishment should be inflicted on the lazy lass
who would not stir for their pleasure.

Some proposed " pinches, nips, and bobs," others
to spoil her new cherry-coloured bonnet and ribands.
One talked of sending her the toothache, another of
giving her a red nose, but this last was voted too
severe and vindictive a punishment for a pretty
young woman. So, tempering mercy with justice,
the pixies were kind enough to let her off with a
lame leg, which was so to continue only for seven
years, and was alone to be cured by a certain herb,
growing on Dartmoor, whose long and learned and
very difficult name the elfin judge pronounced in a
high and audible voice. It was a name of seven
syllables, seven being also the number of years
decreed for the chastisement.

The good-natured maid, wishing to save her
fellow-damsel so long a suffering, tried with might
and main to bear in mind the name of this potent
herb. She said it over and over again, tied a knot
in her garter at every syllable, in order to assist
her memory, and thought she had the word as
sure as her own name, and very possibly felt much
more anxious about retaining the one than the other.
At length she dropped asleep, and did not wake till
the morning. Now, whether her head might be like

English. M

158 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

a sieve, that lets out as fast as it takes in, or whether
the over-exertion to remember caused her to forget,
cannot he determined, but certain it is when she
opened her eyes, she knew nothing at all about the
matter, excepting that Molly was to go lame on her
right leg for seven long years, unless a herb with
a strange name could be got to cure her. And lame
she went for nearly the whole of that period.

At length (it was about the end of the time) a
merry, squint-eyed, queer-looking boy started up
one fine summer day, just as she went to pluck a
mushroom, and came tumbling, head over heels,
towards her. He insisted on striking her leg with a
plant which he held in his hand. From that
moment she got well, and lame Molly, as a reward
for her patience in suffering, became the best dancer
in the whole town at the celebrated festivities of
May-day on the green.

THE BROWN MAN OF THE MOORS.

IN the year before the great rebellion two young
men from Newcastle were sporting on the high
moors above Elsdon, and, after pursuing their game
several hours, sat down to dine in a green glen,
near one of the mountain streams. After their
repast, the younger lad ran to the brook for water,
and, after stooping to drink, was surprised, on lift-
ing his head again, by the appearance of a brown
dwarf, who stood on a crag covered with brackens
across the burn. This extraordinary personage did
not appear to be above half the stature of a common
man, but was uncommonly stout and broad-built,
having the appearance of vast strength. His dress
was entirely brown, the colour of the brackens,
and his head covered with frizzled red hair. His
countenance was expressive of the most savage
ferocity, and his eyes glared like those of a bull.

It seems he addressed the young man, first
threatening him with his vengeance for having
trespassed on his demesnes, and asking him if he
knew in whose presence he stood. The youth
replied that he supposed him to be the lord of the

159

160 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

inoors ; that he had offended through ignorance ; and
offered to bring him the game he had killed. The
dwarf was a little mollified by this submission, but
remarked that nothing could be more offensive to
him than such an offer, as he considered the wild
animals as his subjects, and never failed to avenge
their destruction. He condescended further to in-
form the young man that he was, like himself,
mortal, though of years far exceeding the lot of
common humanity, and that he hoped for salvation.
He never, he added, fed on anything that had life,
but lived in the summer on whortle berries, and in
winter on nuts and apples, of which he had great
store in the woods. Finally, he invited his new
acquaintance to accompany him home and partake
his hospitality, an offer which the youth was on the
point of accepting, and was just going to spring
across the brook (which if he had done, the dwarf
would certainly have torn him to pieces) when his
foot was arrested by the voice of his companion,
who thought he had tarried long. On his looking
round again "the wee brown man was fled."

The story adds that the young man was imprudent
enough to slight the admonition, and to sport over
the moors on his way homewards, but soon after his
return he fell into a lingering disorder, and died
within a year.

HIS FUOT WAS AKHESTEI) i*V TUE VU1CK OF HIS LU

HOW THE COBBLER CHEATED THE
DEVIL.

IT chanced that once upon a time Jong years ago, in
the days when strange things used to happen in the
world, and the devil himself used sometimes to walk
about in it in a bare-faced fashion, to the distraction
of all good and bad folk alike, he came to a very
small town where he resolved to stay a while to
play some of his tricks. How it was, whether the
people were better or were worse than he expected
to find them, whether they would not give way to
him, or whether they went beyond him and out-
witted him, I don't know, and so cannot say; but
sure it is that in a short while he became terribly
angry with the folk, and at length was so disgusted
that he threatened he would make them repent
their treatment of him, for he would punish them
in a manner which should show them his power.
With that he flew off in a fury, and the folk, know-
ing with whom they had to deal, were very sad
thinking what terrible thing would overtake them,
and at their wits' end to imagine how they might
manage to escape the claws of the Evil One.

162 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

Accordingly it was decided to call a meeting of
the townsfolk, to which all, old and young, should
come to deliver their opinion as to the best course
to be pursued, only those too old to walk, the sick,
and the foolish, being not called to the council.

Very many different courses were proposed, and
while these were being debated a man rushed into
the hall where the council was held, and informed
them that their enemy was coming, for he had him-
self seen him making his way to the town, bearing
on his shoulder a stone almost big enough to bury
the place under it. He reported that the devil was
yet a long way off, for his load hampered him sadly
and he could not travel fast.

What to do the councillors did not know, when
suddenly there came amongst them a poor cobbler,
whom they had forgot to call to the meeting, for
he was, indeed, looked upon as only half-witted.

"I will go and meet him," said he, "and stop
him coming here."

" You stop him ! " cried they all ; " it 's mad you
must be to think of it."

"I'll go all the same," said the cobbler, and
without saying a word more he goes out and begins
to make ready for his journey.

First of all he collected together as many old
boots and shoes as he could find, and when he had
got them all in a bundle, he finds out the man who
had seen the devil coming on, and inquired of him

HOW THE COBBLER CHEATED THE DEVIL. 163

the way he should go to meet him. The man told
him the road, and the cobbler set out. He walked,
and walked, and walked, till at last he came to the
devil, who was sitting by the roadside resting him-
self and trying to get cool, for the day was warm,
and he was nearly worn out with carrying the big
rock which lay beside him.

" Do you know such-and-such a place ? " asks
he of the man, naming the town he would be at.

" I do, indeed," says the man, " for I ought to,
seeing I have lived in its neighbourhood these many
years, and have only left there to travel here."

"And how many days have you been getting
here 1 " asked the devil anxiously, for he had hoped
he was near the end of his journey.

"Oh, days and days," replies the man. "See
here," and he opens his bundle of old boots that he
had ready, — " see here," says he, " these are the boots
I 've worn out on the hard road in coming from the
place here."

" Have you, indeed ! " says the devil, looking at
them amazed, little thinking that the man was
lying as he showed him pair after pair, all in holes
and shreds. " Well, indeed, it must be a long way
oif," and he looks around him, and then at the rock,
and thinks what a terrible long way he has had to
bring it, and begins to doubt whether, after all, since
he 's still got so far to go, it 's worth all the trouble.

" If it had been near," says he, " it would have

164 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

been a different thing, and I would have shown
them what it is to treat me as they did, but as it 's
so far off it 's another matter, and I don't think it 's
worth the trouble."

So he just takes up the rock and flings it aside
in a field, and goes off back again. So the cobbler
came home, and told all the townsfolk what he had
done, and how he had cheated the devil, and I can
assure you that they all admired his cleverness, and
the joke of tricking the devil as he had, nor did
they allow him to lose in consequence of missing
his day's work.

THE TAVISTOCK WITCH.

AN old witch in days of yore lived in the neighbour-
hood of Tavistock, and whenever she wanted money
she would assume the shape of a hare, and would
send out her grandson to tell a certain huntsman,
who lived hard by, that he had seen a hare sitting
at such a particular spot, for which he always re-
ceived the reward of sixpence. After this deception
had been practised many times, the dogs turned out'
the hare pursued, often seen but never caught, a
sportsman of the party began to suspect " that the
devil was in the dance," and there would be no end
to it. The matter was discussed, a justice con-
sulted, and a clergyman to boot, and it was thought
that however clever the devil might be, law and
church combined would be more than a match for
him. It was therefore agreed that, as the boy was
singularly regular in the hour at which he came to
announce the sight of the hare, all should be in
readiness for a start the instant such information
was given, and a neighbour of the witch, nothing
friendly to her, promised to let the parties know
directly that the old woman and her grandson left

165

166 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

the cottage and went off together, the one to be
hunted, and the other to set on the hunt.

The news came, the hounds were unkennelled,
and huntsmen and sportsmen set off with surprising
speed. The witch, now a hare, and her little col-
league in iniquity, did not expect so very speedy a
turn out, so that the game was pursued at a
desperate rate, and the boy, forgetting himself in
a moment of alarm, was heard to exclaim —

" Run, granny, run ; run for your life ! "

At last the pursuers lost the hare, and she once
more got safe into the cottage by a little hole in the
bottom of the door, but not large enough to admit a
hound in chase. The huntsman and the squires, with
their train, lent a hand to break open the door, but
could not do it till the parson and the justice came
up, but as law and church were certainly designed
to break through iniquity, even so did they now
succeed in bursting the magic bonds that op-
posed them. Up-stairs they all went. There they
found the old hag, bleeding and covered with wounds,
and still out of breath. She denied she was a hare,
and railed at the whole party.

" Call up the hounds," said the huntsman, " and
let us see what they take her to be. Maybe we
may yet have another hunt."

On hearing this, the old woman cried quarter.
The boy dropped on his knees and begged hard for
mercy. Mercy was granted on condition of its being

THE TAVISTOCK WITCH. 167

received with a good whipping, and the huntsman,
having long practised amongst the hounds, now tried
his hand on their game. Thus the old woman
escaped a worse fate for the time being, but on being
afterwards put on trial for bewitching a young
woman, and making her spit pins, the above was
given as evidence against her, and the old woman
finished her days, like a martyr, at the stake.

THE WORM OF LAMBTON.

THE young heir of Lambton led a dissolute and evil
course of life, equally regardless of the obligations of
his high estate, and the sacred duties of religion.
According to his profane custom, he was fishing on
a Sunday, and threw his line into the river to catch
fish, at a time when all good men should have been
engaged in the solemn observance of the day. After
having toiled in vain for some time, he vented his
disappointment at his ill success, in curses loud and
deep, to the great scandal of all who heard him, on
their way to Holy Mass, and to the manifest peril
of his own soul.

At length he felt something extraordinary tugging
at his line, and, in the hope of catching a large fish,
he drew it up with the utmost skill and care, yet it
required all his strength to bring the expected fish
to land.

What was his surprise and mortification, when,
instead of a fish, he found that he had only caught
a worm of most unseemly and disgusting appearance.
He hastily tore it from his hook and threw it into a
well hard by.

THE WORM OF LAMBTON. 169

He again threw in his line, and continued to fish,
when a stranger of venerable appearance, passing by,
asked him —

" What sport ? "

To which he replied —

" I think I've caught the devil ; " and directed the
inquirer to look into the well.

The stranger saw the worm, and remarked that
he had never seen the like of it before — that it was
like an eft, but that it had nine holes on each side
of its mouth, and tokened no good.

The worm remained neglected in the well, but
soon grew so large that it became necessary to seek
another abode. It usually lay in the day-time coiled
round a rock in the middle of the river, and at night
frequented a neighbouring hill, twining itself around
the base ; and it continued to increase in length
until it could lap itself three times around the hill.

It now became the terror of the neighbourhood,
devouring lambs, sucking the cow's milk, and com-
mitting every species of injury on the cattle of the
affrighted peasantry.

The immediate neighbourhood was soon laid waste,
and the worm, finding no further support on the
north side of the river, crossed the stream towards
Lambton Hall, where the old lord was then living
in grief and sorrow, the young heir of Lambton
having repented him of his former sins, and gone to
the wars in a far distant land.

170 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

The terrified household assembled in council, and
it was proposed by the stewart, a man far advanced
in years and of great experience, that the large
trough which stood in the courtyard should be filled
with milk. The monster approached and, eagerly
drinking the milk, returned without inflicting further
injury, to repose around its favourite hill.

The worm returned the next morning, crossing
the stream at the same hour, and directing its way
to the hall. The quantity of milk to be provided
was soon found to be the product of nine cows, and
if any portion short of this quantity was neglected
or forgotten the worm showed the most violent signs
of rage, by lashing its tail around the trees in the
park, and tearing them up by the roots.

Many a gallant knight of undoubted fame and
prowess sought to slay this monster which was the
terror of the whole country side, and it is related that
in these mortal combats, although the worm had been
frequently cut asunder, yet the several parts had
immediately reunited, and the valiant assailant never
escaped without the loss of life or limb, so that, after
many fruitless and fatal attempts to destroy the
worm, it remained, at length, in tranquil possession
of its favourite hill — all men fearing to encounter so
deadly an enemy.

At length, after seven long years, the gallant heir
of Lambton returned from the wars of Christendom,
and found the broad lands of his ancestors laid waste

HE MADE A SOLEMN VOW.

THE WORM OF LAMBTON. 171

and desolate. He heard the wailings of the people,
for their hearts were filled with terror and alarm.
He hastened to the hall of his ancestors, and received
the embraces of his aged father, worn out with
sorrow and grief, both for the absence of his son,
whom he had considered dead, and for the dreadful
waste inflicted on his fair domain by the devastations
of the worm.

He took no rest until he crossed the river to ex-
amine the worm, as it lay coiled around the base of
the hill, and being a knight of tried valour and sound
discretion, and hearing the fate of all those who had
fallen in the strife, he consulted a Sibyl on the best
means to be pursued to slay the monster.

He was told that he himself had been the cause
of all the misery which had been brought upon the
country, which inceased his grief and strengthened
his resolution. He was also told that he must have
his best suit of mail studded with spear-blades, and,
taking his stand on the rock in the middle of the
river, commend himself to Providence and the might
of his sword, first making a solemn vow, if success-
ful, to slay the first living thing he met, or, if he
failed to do so, the Lords of Lambton for nine
generations would never die in their beds.

He made the solemn vow in the chapel of his
forefathers, and had his coat studded with the blades
of the sharpest spears. He took his stand on the
rock in the middle of the river, and unsheathing his

172 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

trusty sword, which had never failed him in time
of need, he commended himself to the will of Provi-
dence.

At the accustomed hour the worm uncoiled its
lengthened folds, and, leaving the hill, took its usual
course towards Lambton Hall, and approached the
rock where it sometimes reposed. The knight,
nothing dismayed, struck the monster on the head
with all his might and main, but without producing
any other visible effect than irritating and vexing the
worm, which, closing on the knight, clasped its
frightful coils around him, and endeavoured to
strangle him in its poisonous embrace.

The knight was, however, provided against this
dangerous extremity, for, the more closely he was
pressed by the worm, the more deadly were the
wounds inflicted by his coat of spear-blades, until
the river ran with gore.

The strength of the worm diminished as its efforts
increased to destroy the knight, who, seizing a
favourable opportunity, made such a good use of his
sword that he cut the monster in two. The severed
part was immediately carried away by the current,
and the worm, being thus unable to reunite itself,
was, after a long and desperate conflict, destroyed by
the gallantry and courage of the knight of Lambton.

The afflicted household were devoutly engaged
in prayer during the combat, but on the fortunate
issue, the knight, according to promise, blew a blast

THE WORM OF LAMBTON. 173

on his bugle to assure his father of his safety, and
that he might let loose his favourite hound which
was destined to be the sacrifice. The aged father,
forgetting everything but his parental feelings, rushed
forward to embrace his son.

When the knight beheld his father he was over-
whelmed with grief. He could not raise his arm
against his parent, but, hoping that his vow might
be accomplished, and the curse averted by destroying
the next living thing he met, he blew another blast
on his bugle.

His favourite hound broke loose and bounded to
receive his caresses, when the gallant knight, with
grief and reluctance, once more drew his sword,
still reeking with the gore of the monster, and
plunged it into the heart of his faithful companion.
But in vain — the prediction was fulfilled, and the
Sibyl's curse pressed heavily on the house of Lamb-
ton for nine generations.

THE OLD WOMAN AND THE CROOKED
SIXPENCE.

AN old woman was sweeping her house, and she
found a crooked sixpence.

" What," says she, " shall I do with this sixpence 1
I will go to the market and buy a pig with it."

She went; and as she was coming home she
came to a stile. Now the pig would not go over
the stile. The woman went on a little further and
met a dog —

" Dog," said she, " bite pig. Piggy won't go
over the stile, and I shan't get home to-night."

But the dog would not bite the pig. The woman
went on a little further, and she met a stick.

"Stick," said she, "beat dog. Dog won't bite
pig, piggy won't go over stile, and I shan't get home
to-night."

But the stick would not. The woman went on
a little further, and she met a fire.

" Fire," said she, " burn stick. Stick won't beat
dog, dog won't bite pig, piggy won't go over the
stile, and I shan't get home to-night."

174

THE OLD WOMAN AND THE CROOKED SIXPENCE. 175

But the fire would not. The woman went on a
little further and she met some water.

" Water," said she, " quench fire. Fire won't burn
stick, stick won't beat dog," etc.

But the water would not. The woman went on
a little further, and she met an ox.

"Ox," said she, "drink water. Water won't quench
fire," etc.

But the ox would not. The woman went on
again, and she met a butcher.

" Butcher," said she, " kill ox. Ox won't drink
water," etc.

But the butcher would not. The woman went
on a little further, and met a rope.

" Eope," said she, " hang butcher. Butcher won't
kill ox," etc.

But the rope would not. Again the woman went
on, and she met a rat.

" Rat," said she, " gnaw rope. Rope won't hang
butcher," etc.

But the rat would not. The woman went on a
little further, and met a cat.

" Cat," said she, " kill rat. Rat won't gnaw rope,"
etc.

" Oh," said the cat, " I will kill the rat if you
will fetch me a basin of milk from the cow over
there."

The old woman went to the cow and asked her
to let her have some milk for the cat.

176 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

" No," said the cow ; " I will let you have no
milk unless you bring me a mouthful of hay from
yonder stack."

Away went the old woman to the stack and
fetched the hay and gave it to the cow. Then the
cow gave her some milk, and the old woman took
it to the cat.

When the cat had lapped the milk, the cat began
to kill the rat, the rat began to gnaw the rope, the
rope began to hang the butcher, the butcher began
to kill the ox, the ox began to drink the water, the
water began to quench the fire, the fire began to burn
the stick, the stick began to beat the dog, the dog
began to bite the pig, and piggy, in a fright, jumped
over the stile, and so, after all, the old woman got
safe home that night.

THE YORKSHIRE BOGGART.

A BOGGART intruded himself, upon what pretext or
by what authority is unknown, into the house of a
quiet, inoffensive, and laborious farmer ; and, when
once it had taken possession, it disputed the right
of domicile with the legal mortal tenant, in a very
unneighbourly and arbitrary manner. In particular,
it seemed to have a great aversion to children. As
there is no point on which a parent feels more
acutely than that of the maltreatment of his off-
spring, the feelings of the father, and more parti-
cularly of his good dame, were daily, ay, and nightly,
harrowed up by the malice of this malignant and
invisible boggart (a boggart is seldom visible to the
human eye, though it is frequently seen by cattle,
particularly by horses, and then they are said to
" take the boggle," a Yorkshireism for a shying horse).
The children's bread and butter would be snatched
away, or their porringers of bread and milk would
be dashed down by an invisible hand ; or if they
were left alone for a few minutes, they were sure
to be found screaming with terror on the return
of the parents, like the farmer's children in the tale

178 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

of the Field of Terror, whom the " drudging goblin "
used to torment and frighten when he was left alone
with them.

The stairs led up from the kitchen ; a partition
of boards covered the ends of the steps, and formed
a closet beneath the staircase ; a large round knot
was accidentally displaced from one of the boards of
this partition. One day the farmer's youngest boy
was playing with the shoe-horn, and, as children
will do, he stuck the horn into this knot-hole.
Whether the aperture had been found by the bog-
gart as a peep-hole to watch the motions of the
family, or whether he wished to amuse himself, is
uncertain, but sure it is the horn was thrown back
with surprising precision at the head of the child.
It was found that as often as the horn was replaced
in the hole, so surely it was ejected with a straight
aim at the offender's head. Time at length made
familiar this wonderful occurrence, and that which at
the first was regarded with terror, became at length
a kind of amusement with the more thoughtless and
daring of the family. Often was the horn slipped
slyly into the hole, and the boggart never failed to
dart it out at the head of one or the other, but
most commonly he or she who placed it there was
the mark at which the invisible foe launched the
offending horn. They used to call this, in their
provincial dialect, "laking wit boggart," i.e., playing
with the boggart. As if enraged at these liberties

THE YORKSHIRE BOGGART. 179

taken with his boggartship, the goblin commenced
a series of night disturbances. Heavy steps, as of
a person in wooden clogs, were often heard clattering
down the stairs in the dead hour of darkness, and
the pewter and earthen dishes appeared to be dashed
on the kitchen floor, though, in the morning, all
were found uninjured on their respective shelves.

The children were chiefly marked out as objects
of dislike by their unearthly tormenter. The curtains
of their beds would be violently pulled backward
and forward. Anon, a heavy weight, as of a human
being, would press them nearly to suffocation. They
would then scream out for their "daddy" and
"mammy," who occupied the adjoining room, and
thus the whole family was disturbed night after
night. Things could not long go on after this
fashion. The farmer and his good dame resolved
to leave a place where they had not the least
shadow of rest or comfort.

The farmer, whose name was George Gilbertson,
was following, with his wife and family, the last load
of furniture, when they met a neighbouring farmer,
whose name was John Marshall, between whom and
the unhappy tenant the following colloquy took
place —

" Well, George, and soa you 're leaving t' ould
hoose at last ] "

" Heigh, Johnny, ma lad, I 'm forc'd till it, for
that boggart torments us soa we can neither rest

180 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

neet nor day for 't. It seems loike to have such a
malice again't poor bairns. It ommost kills my
poor dame here at thoughts on 't, and soa, ye see,
we 're forc'd to flitt like."

He had got thus far in his complaint when, behold !
a shrill voice, from a deep upright churn, called
out —

" Ay, ay, George, we 're flitting, you see."

" Confound thee," says the poor farmer, " if I 'd
known thou 'd been there I wadn't ha stirrid a peg.
Nay, nay, it 's to na use, Mally," turning to his wife,
" we may as weel turn back again to t' ould hoose,
as be tormented in another that's not sa con-
venient."

They are said to have turned back, but the
boggart and they afterwards came to a better under-
standing, though it long continued its trick of
shooting the horn from the knot-hole.

THE DUERGAR.

THE following encounters with the duergar, a species
of mischievous elves, are said to have taken place
on Siraonside Hills, a mountainous district between
Rothbury and Elsdon in Northumberland.

A person well acquainted with the locality went
out one night to amuse himself with the pranks of
these mysterious beings. When he had wandered
a considerable time, he shouted loudly —

" Tint ! tint ! " and a light appeared before him,
like a burning candle in the window of a shepherd's
cottage. Thither, with great caution, he bent his
steps, and speedily approached a deep slough, from
whence a quantity of moss or peat had been ex-
cavated, and which was now filled with mud and
water. Into this he threw a piece of turf which he
raised at his feet, and when the sound of the splash
echoed throughout the surrounding stillness, the
decoying light was extinguished. The adventurer
retraced his steps, overjoyed at his dexterity in
outwitting the fiendish imps, and in a moment of
exultation, as if he held all the powers of darkness

182 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

in defiance, he again cried to the full extent of his
voice —

"Tint! tint!"

His egotism subsided, however, more quickly
than it arose, when he observed three of the little
demons, with hideous visages, approach him, carrying
torches in thsir diminutive hands, as if they wished
to inspect the figure of their enemy. He now
betook himself to the speed of his heels for safety,
but found that an innumerable multitude of the
same species were gathering round him, each with a
torch in one hand and a short club in the other,
which they brandished with such gestures, as if they
were resolved to oppose his flight, and drive him
back into the morass. Like a knight of romance
he charged with his oaken staff the foremost of his
foes, striking them, as it seemed, to the earth, for they
disappeared, but his offensive weapon encountered
in its descent no substance of flesh or bone, and
beyond its sweep the demons appeared to augment
both in size and number. On witnessing so much
of the unearthly, his heart failed him. He sank
down in a state of stupor, nor was he himself again
till the gray light of the morning dispersed his
unhallowed opponents, and revealed before him the
direct way to his own dwelling.

Another time, a traveller, wandering over these
mountain solitudes, had the misfortune to be
benighted, and, perceiving near him a glimmering

THE DUERGAR 183

light, he hastened thither and found what appeared
to be a hut, on the floor of which, between two
rough, gray stones, the embers of a fire, which had
been supplied with wood, were still glowing and
unconsumed. He entered, and the impression on
his mind was that the place had been deserted an
hour or two previously by gipsies, for on one side
lay a couple of old gate-posts ready to be split up
for fuel, and a quantity of refuse brush-wood, such
as is left from besom making, was strewn upon the
floor. With this material he trimmed the fire, and
had just seated himself on one of the stones, when
a diminutive figure in human shape, not higher than
his knee, came waddling in at the door, and took
possession of the other. The traveller, being ac-
quainted with the manner in which things of this
description ought to be regarded, retained his self-
possession, kept his seat, and remained silent, know-
ing that if he rose up or spoke, his danger would be
redoubled, and as the flame blazed up he examined
minutely the hollow eyes, the stern vindictive
features, and the short, strong limbs, of the visitor
before him. By degrees he perceived that the hut
afforded little or no shelter from the cold night air,
and as the energy of the fire subsided he lifted from
the floor a piece of wood, broke it over his knee,
and laid the fragments upon the red-hot embers.
Whether this operation was regarded by his strange
neighbour as a species of insult we cannot say, but

184 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

the demon seized, as if in bitter mockery, one of the
gate-posts', broke it likewise over its knee, and laid
the pieces on the embers in the same manner. The
other having no wish to witness a further display
of such marvellous agency, thenceforth permitted
the fire to die away, and kept his position in dark-
ness and silence, till the fair dawn of returning day
made him aware of the extreme danger to which he
was exposed. He saw a quantity of white ashes
before him, but the grim dwarfish intruder, with the
roof and walls of the hut, were gone, and he himself,
sat upon a stone, sure enough, but it formed one of
the points of a deep, rugged precipice, over which
the slightest inadvertent movement had been the
means of dashing him to pieces.

THE BAKN ELVES.

AN honest Hampshire farmer was sore distressed by
the nightly unsettling of his barn. However
straightly, over night, he laid his sheaves on the
threshing floor, for the application of the morning's
flail, when morning came all was topsy-turvy,
higgledy-piggledy, though the door remained locked,
and there was no sign whatever of irregular entry.

Resolved to find out who played him these
mischievous pranks, Hodge couched himself one
night deeply among the sheaves, and watched for
the enemy. At length midnight arrived. The barn
was illuminated as if by moonbeams of wonderful
brightness, and through the keyhole came thousands
of elves, the most diminutive that could be imagined.
They immediately began their gambols among the
straw, which was soon in the most admired disorder.
Hodge wondered, but interfered not, but at last the
supernatural thieves began to busy themselves in a
way still less to his taste, for each elf set about
conveying the crop away, a straw at a time, with
astonishing activity and perseverance. The key-
hole was still their port of egress and regress, and it

185

186 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

resembled the aperture of a beehive, on a sunny day
in June. The farmer was rather annoyed at seeing
his grain vanish in this fashion, when one of the
fairies, while hard at work, said to another, in the
tiniest voice that ever was heard —

" I weat ; you weat 1 " (I sweat ; do you sweat ?)
Hodge could contain himself no longer. He
leapt out, crying —

" The deuce sweat ye ! Let me get among ye."
The fairies all flew away so frightened that they
never disturbed the barn any more.

LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR.

IMMEMORIAL tradition has asserted that King Arthur,
his queen Guinevere, court of lords and ladies, and his
hounds, were enchanted in some cave of the crags,
or in a hall below the castle of Sewingshields, and
would continue entranced there till some one should
first blow a bugle-horn that lay on a table near the
entrance into the hall, and then " with the sword of
stone" cut a garter, also placed there beside it. But
none had ever heard where the entrance to this en-
chanted hall was, till a farmer at Sewingshields,
about fifty years since, was sitting knitting on the
ruins of the castle, and his clew fell and ran down-
wards through a bush of briars and nettles, as he
supposed, into a deep subterranean passage. Full
in the faith that the entrance into King Arthur's
hall was now discovered, he cleared the briary portal
of its weeds and rubbish, and entering a vaulted
passage, followed, in his darkling way, the web of his
clew. The floor was infested with toads and lizards,
and the dark wings of bats, disturbed by his un-
hallowed intrusion, flitted fearfully around him.
At length his sinking faith was strengthened by a

IS*

188 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

dim, distant light, which, as he advanced, grew
gradually lighter, till, all at once, he entered a vast
and vaulted hall, in the centre of which a fire with-
out fuel, from a broad crevice in the floor, blazed
with a high and lambent flame, that showed all the
carved walls and fretted roof, and the monarch and
his queen and court reposing around in a theatre of
thrones and costly couches. On the floor, beyond
the fire, lay the faithful and deep-toned pack of
thirty couple of hounds, and on the table, before it,
the spell-dissolving horn, sword, and garter. The
farmer reverently but firmly grasped the sword, and
as he drew it leisurely from its rusty scabbard, the
eyes of the monarch and his courtiers began to
open, and they rose till they sat upright. He cut
the garter, and, as the sword was being slowly
sheathed, the spell assumed its ancient power, and
they all gradually sank to rest, but not before the
monarch lifted up his eyes and hands, and ex-
claimed—

" O woe betide that evil day

On which this witless wight was born
Who drew the sword — the garter cut,

But never blew the bugle-horn."

Of this favourite tradition, the most remarkable
variation is respecting the place where the farmer
descended. Some say that after the king's denun-
ciation, terror brought on loss of memory, and the
farmer was unable to give any correct account of

LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR. 189

his adventure, or the place where it occurred. All
agree that Mrs. Spearman, the wife of another and
more recent occupier of the estate, had a dream in
which she saw a rich hoard of treasure among the
ruins of the castle, and that for many days together
she stood over workmen employed in searching for
it, but without success.

Another version of the story has less of " the
pomp of sceptred state " than the preceding, and
has evidently sprung from a baser original, but its
verity is not the less to be depended upon.

A shepherd one day, in quest of a strayed sheep
on the crags, had his attention aroused by the scene
around him assuming an appearance he had never
before witnessed. There seemed to be about it a
more than wonted vividness, and such a deep
solemnity hung over its aspect, that its features
became, as it were, palpably impressed upon his
mind. While he was musing upon this unexpected
occurrence, his steps were arrested by a ball of
thread. This he laid hold of, and, pursuing the
path it pointed out, found it led into a cavern, in
the recesses of which, as the guiding line used by
miners in their explorations of devious passages, it
appeared to lose itself. As he approached, he felt
perforce constrained to follow the strange conductor,
that had so marvellously come into his hands. After
passing through a long and dreary vestibule, he en-
tered into an apartment in the interior. An immense

190 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

fire blazed on the hearth, and cast its broad flashes
with a wild, unearthly glare, to the remotest corner
of the chamber. Over it was placed a huge caldron,
as if preparations were being made for a feast on an
extensive scale. Two hounds lay couchant on either
side of the fire-place, in the stillness of unbroken
slumber. The only remarkable piece of furniture in
the apartment was a table covered with green cloth.
At the head of the table, a being, considerably ad-
vanced in years, of a dignified mien, and clad in the
habiliments of war, sat, as it were, fast asleep, in an
arm-chair. At the other end of the table lay a horn
and a sword. Notwithstanding these signs of life,
there prevailed a dead silence throughout the cham-
ber, the very feeling of which made the shepherd
reflect that he had advanced far beyond the limits
of human experience, and that he was now in the
presence of objects that belonged more to death than
to life. The very idea made his flesh creep. He,
however, had sufficient fortitude to advance to the
table and lift the horn. The hounds pricked up
their ears most fearfully, and the grisly veteran
started up on his elbow, and raising his half-
unwilling eyes, told the staggered hind that if he
would blow the horn and draw the sword, he would
confer upon him the honours of knighthood to last
through time. Such unheard-of dignities, from a
source so ghastly, either met with no appreciation
from the awe-stricken swain, or the terror of finding

LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR. 191

himself alone in the company, it might be of malig-
nant phantoms, who were only tempting him to his
ruin, became too urgent to be resisted, and, there-
fore, proposing to divide the peril with a comrade,
he groped his darkling way, as best his quaking
limbs could support him, back to the blessed day-
light. On his return, with a reinforcement of strength
and courage, all traces of the former scene had dis-
appeared. The crags presented their usual cheerful
and quiet aspect, and every vestige of the opening
of a cavern was obliterated. Thus failed another
of the repeated opportunities for releasing the spell-
bound king of Britain from the " charmed sleep of
ages." Within his rocky chamber he still sleeps
on, as tradition tells, till the appointed hour ; or if
invited by his enchantress to participate in the
illusions of the fairy festival, it has charms for him
no longer. " Wasted with care," he sits beside her
— the banquet untasted — the pageantry unmasked —

"... By constraint

Her guest, and from his native land withheld
By sad necessity."

SILKY.

ABOUT the commencement of the present century
the inhabitants of the quiet village of Black Heddon,
near Stamfordham, and of its vicinity, who lived,
as most other villagers do, with all possible harmony
amongst themselves, and relishing no more external
disturbance than was consistent with their gentle
and sequestered mode of existence, were dreadfully
annoyed by the pranks of a preternatural being
called Silky. This name it had obtained from its
manifesting a marked predilection to make itself
visible in the semblance of a female dressed in silk.
Many a time, when one of the more timorous of the
community had a night journey to perform, have
they unawares and invisibly been dogged and
watched by this spectral tormentor, who, at the
dreariest part of the road — the most suitable for
thrilling surprises — would suddenly break forth in
dazzling splendour. If the person happened to be
on horseback, a sort of exercise for which she
evinced a strong partiality, she would unexpectedly
seat herself behind, " rattling in her silks." There)
after enjoying a comfortable ride, with instantaneous

192

SILKY. 193

abruptness she would, like a thing destitute of con-
tinuity, dissolve away and become incorporate with
the nocturnal shades, leaving the bewildered horse-
man in blank amazement.

At Belsay, some two or three miles from Black
Heddon, she had a favourite resort. This was a
romantic crag finely studded with trees, under the
gloomy umbrage of which, " like one forlorn," she
loved to wander all the live-long night. Here often
has the belated peasant, with awe-stricken vision,
beheld her dimly through the sombre twilight as if
engaged in splitting great stones, or hewing with
many a repeated stroke some stately " monarch oi
the grove." While he thus stood and gazed, and
listened to intimations, impossible to be misappre-
hended, of the dread reality of that mysterious being,
concerning whom so various conjectures were awake,
all at once, excited by that wondrous agency, he
would hear the howling of a resistless tempest rush-
ing through the woodland — the branches creaking
in violent concussion, or rent into pieces by the
impetuous fury of the blast — while, to the eye, not
a leaf was seen to quiver, or a pensile spray to
bend. The bottom of this crag is washed by a
picturesque lake or fish-pond, at whose outlet is a
waterfall, over which a venerable tree, sweeping its
leafy arms, adds impressiveness to the scene. Amid
the complicated and contorted limbs of this tree,
Silky possessed a rude chair, where she was wont, in

194 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

her moody moments, to sit — wind-rocked — enjoying
the rustling of the storm in the dark woods, or the
gush of the cascade. The tree, so consecrated in the
sympathies and terrors of the people of the vicinity,
has been preserved. Though now (1842) no longer
tenanted by its aerial visitant, it yet spreads majes-
tically its time-hallowed canopy over the spot,
awakening in the love-versed rustic, when the
winter's wind waves gusty and sonorous through its
leafless boughs, the soul-harrowing recollection of
the exploits of the ancient fay, — but in the spring-
time, beautiful with the full-flushed verdure of that
exuberant season, recipient of the kindling emotions
of reverence and affection. It still bears the name
of " Silky's seat," in memory of its once wonderful
occupant.

Silky exercised a marvellous influence over the
brute creation. Horses, which indisputably possess
a discernment of spirits superior to that of man, and
are more sharp-sighted in the dark, were in an ex-
traordinary degree sensitive of her presence and con-
trol. Having once perceived the effects of her
power she seems to have had a perverse pleasure
in meddling with and arresting those poor defence-
less animals, while engaged in the most exemplary
performance of their labours. When this misfortune
occurred there was no remedy that brute-force could
devise. Expostulation, soothing, whipping, and
kicking, were all exerted in vain to make the restive

ENJOYING THE HUSTLING OF THE STORM.

English.

SILKY. 195

beast resume the proper and intended direction.
The ultimate resource, unless it might be the whim
of Silky to revoke the spell, was the magic dispelling
witchvvood, which, it is satisfactory to learn, was of
unfailing efficacy. One poor wight, a farm-servant;
was once the selected victim of her mischievous
frolics. He had to go to a colliery at some distance
for coals, and it was late in the evening before he
could return. Silky, with spirit-like prescience,
having intimation of the circumstance, waylaid him
at a bridge — a "ghastly, ghost-alluring edifice,"
since called "Silky's Brig," lying a little to the
south of Black Heddon, on the road between that
place and Stamfordham. Just as he had arrived at
"the height of that bad eminence," the keystone,
horses and cart became fixed and immovable as
fate. In that melancholy plight might both man
and horses have continued — quaking, and sweating,
and paralysed — till the morning light had thrown
around them its mantle of protection — had not a
neighbour's servant come to the rescue, who oppor-
tunely carried some of the potent witchwood
(mountain-ash) about his person. On the arrival
of this seasonable aid, the perplexed driver rallied
his scattered senses, and the helpless animals, being
duly seasoned after the fashion prescribed on such
occasions, he had the heart-felt satisfaction of seeing
them apply themselves, with the customary alacrity,
to the draught. The charm was effectually over-

196 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

come, and in a short time both the man and the
coals reached home in safety. Ever afterwards,
however, as long as he lived, he took the precaution
of rendering himself spell-proof, by being furnished
with a sufficient quantity of witchwood, being by
no means disposed that Silky should a second
time amuse herself at his expense and that of his
team.

She was wayward and capricious. Sometimes
she installed herself in the office of that old familiar
Lar — Brownie, but, with characteristic misdirection,
in a manner exactly the reverse of that useful
species of hobgoblin. Here it may be remarked
that, throughout her disembodied career, she can
scarcely be said to have performed one benevolent
action for the sake of its moral qualities. She had,
from first to last, a perpetual latent hankering for
mischief, and gloried in withering surprises and un-
foreseen movements. As is customary with that
" sturdy fairy," as she is designated by the great
English Lexicographer, her works were performed
at night, or between the hours of sunset and day-
dawn. If the good old dames had thoroughly cleaned
their houses, which country people make a practice
of doing, especially on Saturdays, so that they may
have a comfortable and decent appearance on the
Sabbath-day, after they had retired to rest, Silky
would silently turn everything topsy-turvy, and the
morning presented a scene of indescribable confusion.

SILKY. 197

On the contrary, if the house had been left in a
disorderly state, a plan which the folk generally
found it best to adopt, everything would have been
arranged with the greatest nicety.

At length a term had arrived to her erratic course,
and both she and the peaceably disposed inhabitants
whom she disquieted obtained the repose so long
mutually desired. She abruptly disappeared. It
had long been surmised, by those who paid attention
to those dark matters, that she was the troubled
phantom of some person, who had died very
miserable, in consequence of having great treasure,
which, before being taken by her mortal agony, had
not been disclosed, and on that account Silky could
not rest in her grave. About the period referred to
a domestic female servant being alone in one of the
rooms of a house in Black Heddon, was frightfully
alarmed by the ceiling above suddenly giving way,
and from it there dropped, with a prodigious clash,
something quite black, shapeless, and uncouth. The
servant did not stop to scrutinise an object so
hideous and startling, but fled to her mistress,
screaming at the pitch of her voice —

" The deevil 's in the house ! The deevil 's in the
house ! He 's come through the ceiling ! "

With this terrible announcement the whole family
were speedily convoked, and great was the consterna-
tion at the idea of the foe of mankind being amongst
them in visible form. In this appalling extremity,

198 ENGLISH FAIRY TALES.

a considerable time elapsed before any one could
brace up courage to face the enemy, or be prevailed
on to go and inspect the cause of their alarm. At
last the mistress, who chanced to be the most stout-
hearted, ventured into the room when, instead of
the personage, on account of whom such awful
apprehensions were entertained, a great dog or calf-
skin lay on the floor, sufficiently black and uncomely,
but filled with gold.

After this Silky was never more heard or seen.
Her destiny was accomplished, her spirit laid, and
she now sleeps with her ancestors.

Edinburgh : Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE.

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